On the last day of the MEVZA U20 Men’s Championship there were no special surprises. In the last match of the tournament it was Czech Republic and Slovenia that faced each other. Although the Czechs had already secured themselves the first place in the tournament, this particular match was still very competitive. The Slovenian team wanted to win to achieve a final second place in the overall standings, while for the Czech team a win would be a confirmation of a great tournament, also because the young Slovenian standout Rok Mozic, who had been absent due to preparations with the senior national team, joined his peers for the last match.
The home team started the decisive match against the Czechs with confidence and determination. They played well on both ends of the floor, offense and defense, and Rok Mozic proved to be just the right leader. They won the first set easily with 25:20, were however less convincing in the second. It was actually the Czech team that led most of the second, even with 23:21, when Rok Mozic came into the front row again. He was unstoppable in the attack, added another block, and in defense, his teammates followed. The Czech advantage was quickly gone, and Mozic also ended the set. The Czech team led by as many as four points already in the third, but the score was equal again at point 17 and the final part of the set was dominated by the home team players, who eventually celebrated with 3:0. “It showed how much Rok can add to our national team. Of course, I must also give praise to the rest of our team who have grown with each game and day by day. Naturally, this fills me with optimism for the upcoming European Championship qualifications next year.” said the Slovenian national team coach Iztok Ksela after the match. Not necessarily with the last match, however in general, the coach of the Czech national team, Obdržálek P?emysl, was also satisfied with the tournament: “After three days we were able to fully assess the current condition of our team. We are pleased with the first place, but we are aware that we still have a lot of work to do before qualifying for the European Championship. “
The Czech team got a clear 3-0 win in the morning match against Austria, allowing 20 points only in the second set. A significantly tougher game had Slovenia, who defeated Hungary with a close 2:1. The first set was very even the whole time and ended with a thrilling 30:28 for Slovenia. Even a three-point advantage for Slovenia at the score of 16:13 was not enough, as a few moments later Hungary was already ahead with 21:20. The tied game continued until the end, when the tournament hosts showed some more sharpness. There was significantly less of it in the second set, when Hungary led by five after the first and second third of the set. The set belonged to Hungary; Slovenia scored only 14 points. Thus, once more the third set decided the winner. Already at the begin of it Slovenia took a four point lead and held the advantage until the end of the game for a 25:22 win. This meant that even with a victory against Croatia, Hungary would no longer be the sole decider of their potential second place finish. Under the pressure of a needed win, they lost the first set against Croatia, especially due to a less efficient attack in which they were brilliant for the most matches of the three-day tournament. In the second and third set, however, they repeated the performance from before and did not allow the opponent to collect more than 20 points in each.
Already earlier, Croatia went down against Israel, who showed more in this tournament than some might have expected. They proved again in this match that they are a solid and resilient team. Against the Croatian national team, opposite William Zaher stood out the most with nine points in the attack and four more points in the block. In their afternoon match Israel had to give in to Slovakia that took a 2-0 lead, while the third set belonged to Israel, who made more service errors throughout the match, was slightly less effective in attack but was significantly better than Slovakia in the serve-reception. In the first game of the third competition day, Slovakia beat Austria 3-0, and with two wins on the last day clinched a final fourth place.
Austria and Croatia each recorded one win in the tournament, Israel three, as did Slovakia, who, due to more won sets, scored a point more and ranked fourth, ahead of Israel.
Photo Credit: Draš Center & OK Nova KBM Branik
