ACH Volley LJUBLJANA claimed their tenth MEVZA League crown on Thursday night. Slovenia’s dominant team for many years and defending champions celebrated a clean sweep (25-14, 25-18, 26-24) of their challengers Mladost ZAGREB in the gold medal match at the Final Four tournament held in Zwettl. Croatia’s 18-times national champions stood no chance in the first two sets at all and only in the third Mladost were somehow able to pose a threat to the Champions League participants.
ACH Volley’s Petar Dirlic topped the charts on 18 points, including three aces. His teammate Jan Pokersnik was the only to keep close with 16. Mladost’s Tomislav Mitrasinovic managed to put 13 points to his name.
PHOTO © Franz Atteneder
Matija Plesko, head coach of ACH Volley LJUBLJANA: “This victory is the outcome of the whole season. Congratulations to all players of ACH Volley on the character they showed not only in this tournament but throughout the whole season as well. We played really well today. It is our tenth MEVZA League title and my second as a head coach.”
Petar Dirlic, MVP of ACH Volley LJUBLJANA: “We did not underestimate our opponents, but our serve made the difference in the first two sets. We deserve this title, congratulations to all the guys.”
Radovan Malevic, head coach of Mladost ZAGREB: “The better side won today. We all know that ACH Volley are a very strong team. There was nearly the whole Slovenian national team playing. We delivered a very good performance in the third set, but we were a little unlucky at the end. Congratulations to ACH Volley, we will see us next season again.”
Stefan Kovacevic, MVP of Mladost ZAGREB: “Despite losing the final, we achieved a great result here in Zwettl. Now we need to look forward to the next matches in the Croatian League!”
PHOTO © Franz Atteneder
WALDVIERTEL secure first MEVZA League podium
After losing against ACH Volley in a thrilling semi-final, hosts Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL claimed the bronze medal match, defeating Calcit Volley KAMNIK from Slovenia 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 29-27) earlier in the evening. Therefore, Austria’s national league runners-up took their second chance to secure their first MEVZA League podium. Last year, WALDVIERTEL had suffered a four-set loss at the hands of Calcit Volley in bronze medal match.
WALDVIERTEL’s Lars Bornemann was the player of the match after delivering an impressive performance that saw him finishing on a total of 27 points. Jan Planinc and Ivan Mihalj top scored for Calcit Volley with 12 points apiece.
PHOTO © Franz Atteneder
Michal Peciakowski, assistant coach of Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL: “We showed very courageous Volleyball, and it paid off. There are players that even improve under pressure, and we have such ones. I do not want to pick somebody out, but if I had to, I would name our libero Leonhard Tille.”
Lars Bornemann, MVP of Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL: “We showed a really good reaction to the loss in the tiebreaker last night. All of us made a good match, but also our opponents did very well today. Finally our consistency made the difference.”
Gasper Ribic, head coach of Calcit Volley KAMNIK: “We lost the match, but at the end of the day I saw some good things from my team: we served well and we had a good fighting spirit. However, WALDVIERTEL were the better team today and maybe they were a little bit lucky in some situations as well. Despite that, I am proud of my team. Congratulations to the hosts on their great win.”
Domen Kotnik, MVP of Calcit Volley KAMNIK: “It was a tough match. We fought very hard today, but it was still not enough. We missed two or three big points, those made the difference like already in the semi-final. But that’s the way our sport is. Congratulations to WALDVIERTEL on a really strong performance!”
Final Four participants
ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO)
Slovenian championship titles 16 (record), Slovenian Cup titles 11 (record), MEVZA League titles 10 (record), CEV Cup title 1
Calcit Volley KAMNIK (SLO)
Slovenian championship titles 3, Slovenian Cup titles 3, MEVZA League runners-up 1 (third place 2)
Mladost ZAGREB (CRO)
Croatian championship titles 18 (record), Croatian Cup titles 20 (record), Inter League titles 4, MEVZA League runners-up 1 (third place 1)
Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT)
Austrian championship runners-up 2, Austrian Cup runners-up 1, MEVZA League third place 1
Men’s MEVZA League, Final Four in Zwettl
semi-finals
04.03.: HAOK Mladost ZAGREB (CRO) vs. Calcit Volley KAMNIK (SLO) 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 30-28)
top scorers: Tomislav MITRASINOVIC 25, Sandro DUKIC 17; Boyan YORDANOV 24, Milosz HEBDA 11, Jan PLANINC 11
match analysis: spikes 56-53, aces 7-3, blocks 21-7, opponent errors 17:30
04.03.: ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO) vs. Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT) 3-2 (22-25, 25-11, 25-19, 21-25, 15-9)
top scorers: Petar DIRLIC 19, Jan POKERSNIK 15; Lars BORNEMANN 13, Arthur DARMOIS 10, Niels DE VRIES 10
match analysis: spikes 52-42, aces 4-1, blocks 15-11, opponent errors 37-35
3rd place match
05.03.: Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT) vs. Calcit Volley KAMNIK (SLO) 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 29-27)
top scorers: Lars BORNEMANN 27, Arthur DARMOIS 19; Jan PLANINC 12, Ivan MIHALJ 12
match analysis: spikes 65-48, aces 4-3, blocks 10-4, opponent errors 23-36
final
05.03.: ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO) vs. HAOK Mladost ZAGREB (CRO) 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 26-24)
topscorers: Petar DIRLIC 18, Jan POKERSNIK 16; Tomislav MITRASINOVIC 13, Marko ORSOLIC 10
match analysis: spikes 43:31, aces 8-1, blocks 8-5, opponent errors 17-19
European Cups, results MEVZA teams
CEV Volleyball Cup 2020 – Women
quarter-finals, away matches
03.03.: Grupa Azoty Chemik POLICE (POL) vs. Mladost ZAGREB (CRO) 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-10) – leg 1: 3-0
CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020 – Women
quarter-finals, away matches
03.03.: Olympiacos PIRAEUS (GRE) vs. Swietelsky BEKESCSABA (HUN) 2-3 (25-17, 25-17, 20-25, 21- 25, 9-15) – leg 1: 3-1
04.03.: THY ISTANBUL (TUR) vs. ASKÖ LINZ-STEG (AUT) 3:0 (25:13, 25:15, 25:16) – leg 1: 3-0
CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020 – Men
quarter-finals, away matches
04.03., 18:00: VK CEZ KARLOVARSKO (CZE) – Spor Toto SC ANKARA (TUR) 3-1 (25-21, 31-33, 25-21, 25-23); GS 12-15 – leg 1: 0-3
05.03.: Sporting Club LISBOA (POR) – Penzügyör BUDAPEST (HUN) 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21) – leg 1: 3-2
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