Austria wins silver and Slovenia bronze in first European Silver League

Bosnia & Herzegovina are the champions of CEV Volleyball European Silver League 2021 – Women! It was their first podium in the history of the competition. They won the five-set final in Maribor on Saturday to leave Austria with the silver, their second, after the runner-up finish in 2018. Final Four hosts Slovenia settled for the bronze, also their second Silver League medal, after claiming silver in 2019. Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Edina Begic was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Gold medal match
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA vs. AUSTRIA
3-2 (25-22, 27-29, 23-25, 25-18, 15-7)

The match started very well for the Austrians. They quickly broke away and opened up a gap that went as wide as five points at 14-9. However, with Edina Begic spearheading the Bosnian offence, her team fought back to level it at 15-15 and gain control on the way to a 25-22 first set win. Towards the end of a nip-and-tuck second set, Bosnia & Herzegovina won a long and spectacular rally to reach set point at 24-22. Two long and spectacular rallies down the road, the score was level. Moments later, Austria’s Nikolina Maros aced for her seventh point of the set and a 29-27 win.

Austria recovered from a four-point deficit (7-11) with four points in a row, only to lag behind again by 18-21 later in the third set, and come back again with three in a row. An exciting epilogue ended with Ursula Ehrhart spiking to bring the set point and converting it herself from the serving line with a direct point for 25-23, her seventh score in the set. Bosnia & Herzegovina were well in control of a completely one-sided fourth set. Dajana Boskovic nailed the 25-18 winner to prompt a tie-breaker. The Balkan side were even more merciless in the deciding set. They hammered out an emphatic 15-7 win with Edina Selimovic hitting the last point through the middle.

Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Edina Begic scored the match high 25 points before being awarded MVP of the tournament. Her teammates Andelka Radiskovic and Dajana Boskovic added 23 and 22 points, respectively.

“I am super happy and proud of the entire team, my teammates, coaches and everybody who was cheering for us and supporting us through the entire tournament. It was hard, but we succeeded and I am so happy for it.”

Edina Begic
Outside hitter of Bosnia & Herzegovina and MVP of the tournament

“We started the match strong, although normally we need some time to start. I believe that our experience was deciding in this match. This team started to practice and play together at the beginning of this season. We took these matches as a preparation for EuroVolley, but this title really means a lot for us. We qualified for the Golden League, another historic achievement for Bosnia & Herzegovina.”

Andjelka Radiskovic
Outside hitter of Bosnia & Herzegovina

“In a five-set match, you never know what will happen in the last set. We could have won it earlier, but we did not. They were just a little bit stronger at the service and this decided the match. I am really, really proud of my team; we are fighting every day. We are such a great team, having fun on the court. It is amazing to play with these girls. We should still be proud. We will come back and go for gold again.”

Nikolina Maros
Outside hitter of Austria

Bronze medal match
SLOVENIA vs. PORTUGAL
3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16)

Portugal made far too many unforced errors in the first set and logically lost. Slovenia’s Eva Zatkovic scored the 25-21 winner with a kill block. In the second set, the Portuguese reduced the mistakes and stepped up the offence to open up a wide gap, extending it to 10 points at 17-7. However, the Slovenian blocking started delivering in the money time and the home team came back to within one, denying three set points in a row before Portuguese captain Marta Hurst finally converted the fourth one to a 25-23 win.

It was Portugal’s turn to catch up in the third set. And they did. They recovered from a five-point deficit to draw level in the first half of the set, but were once again four behind at 19-23 just before the epilogue. They evened it at 23-23, but Slovenia’s Mirta Velikonja Grbac pulled the plug on them with a spike and a block towards a 25-23 close. The fourth set was all about the home side. In the end it was once again Velikonja Grbac who finished it off at 25-16 with a kill block, her seventh in the match.

Three players, Slovenia’s Eva Zatkovic and Portugal’s Ana Vale and Marta Hurst, shared the top scorer honours of the match with 13 points each.

“It is not easy to regroup after a defeat. That is why I am even happier that today we found our focus and despite some bad moments in the second set we returned to the game, stood up against a good team of Portugal and claimed the win.”

Gregor Rozman
Head coach of Slovenia

“It was hard at the beginning of the game due to yesterday’s loss, but I am very proud that my team fought till the end. We did not give up, because we deserved this third place and I am very happy that we made it.”

Mirta Velikonja Grbac
Middle blocker of Slovenia

“We are a very young team, a group composed of new players. We are still in the process. We made it through a very strong pool stage and grew with every match. Today, I think we did not manage to withstand the pressure. That is what we need for the future. We need to keep working, play more difficult games and with time we will gain more experience for the matches like this.”

Marta Hurst
Outside hitter and captain of Portugal

News:
CEV – European Volleyball
ÖVV – Volleyball Austria
OZS – Volleyball Slovenia