OK Merkur MARIBOR claimed a quite compelling 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-22) victory at Mladost ZAGREB on Wednesday evening. The second-placed Slovenians needed 79 minutes only to record their third MEVZA League away win in a row. As a result, OK Merkur MARIBOR have closed the gap to table leaders and defending champions ACH Volley Ljubljana to two points.
“We needed three sets only, but it was a hard fought win. Congratulations to my players! We delivered a strong performance, especially in defence and blocking. Now we have to cope with another challenge. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be able to play any games in Slovenia for at least two weeks”, OK Merkur MARIBOR coach Sebastijan Skorc explained.
Davor Meringer, coach of Mladost ZAGREB, said after his team had suffered a clean sweep in their first MEVZA League game this season: “MARIBOR played much better than we did. We need some more tough matches to get in better shape!” Setter Bernard Bakonji added: “That was our first really challenging game for a very long time. We made too many mistakes and were not focused enough in the decisive situations.”
Slovenian rising Volleyball star Rok Mozic and Ahmed Ikhbayri top scored for the away team with 20 and 13 points, respectively. Konstantin Cupkovic (14) and Kruno Nikacevic (10) were Mlasdost ZAGREB’s best scorers. Match Stats: total points 64 vs 75, spikes 32 vs 42, aces 11 vs 2, blocks 4 vs 7 and opponent errors 17 vs 21.
MEVZA League main round
21.10.: HAOK Mladost ZAGREB (CRO) vs. OK Merkur MARIBOR (SLO) 0-3 (21-25, 21-25, 22-25)
24.10., 19:00: SK Zadruga AICH/DOB (AUT) vs. UVC Holding GRAZ (AUT)
25.10., 17:00: Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT) vs. OK ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO)
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