Maribor falls short to defending champion Zaksa

As many as 600 spectators at the Dvorana Lukna in Maribor, Slovenia watched live the encounter between the local OK Merkur MARIBOR with the reigning CEV Champions League champions from Grupa Azoty KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE in Pool C. Despite the fact the home side had their chances, the players of head coach Gheorghe Cretu were able to close the match in three sets, recording their third Champions League victory this season, and are now one point behind pool leaders Cucine Lube Civitanova.

Rok Bracko challenging ZAKSA’s defence. Photo Credit: CEV

Kamil Semeniuk shined in the most important moments of the game, delivering a great performance at the serving line, and finishing with as many as six aces, grabbed the MVP award. Topping the charts with 16 points, he recorded as well eight winning spikes and two kill blocks.

OK Merkur MARIBOR 0-3 Grupa Azoty KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE (19-25, 11-25, 21-25)

The hosts started off good, not leaving their famous opponents the chance to build a big point difference. After a close call (9-9), Norbert Huber shined with a spike and a block, helping his team to start taking slowly the leadership. Inspired, Grupa Azoty, led by Aleksander Sliwka (two blocks) and Krzysztof Rejno (one block) took things under control (16-12) and emerged victorious. The more effective performance on the block (four in total) sealed the deal for the guests in this set.

The reigning Champions League champs stormed out in the second set, proving far better on the block (six to zero) and aced as many as three times (to zero by the hosts. All three aces were recorded by Kamil Semeniuk, who turned out to be the man of the hour, making it really difficult for Maribor’s reception). The head coach of OK Merkur MARIBOR, Sebastijan Škorc tried different scenarios to turn things around, using his substitution players, but it didn’t lead to any success.

ZAKSA put a lot of pressure on the Serve-Receive line-up of Maribor. Photo Credit: CEV

The home side started inspired and motivated in the third set, taking the lead at 10-7. However, showing more focused game afterwards, the guests, again thanks to crucial performance on the serving line by Semeniuk, were able to tie the score (13-13). The defending champions took then the lead, and despite the efforts by the home side to bring back the intrigue in the match, emerged victorious and congratulated themselves with the victory.

“We knew who we were competing against. In the second set, we didn’t start strong, but at the end of the match, both teams showed their best capabilities. I believe we showed our best game.”

Rok Bracko
Player of OK Merkur MARIBOR

“Our reception today was not so good, but otherwise, we played at about 90 % of our capabilities. We gave our hearts, we gave our everything, but it simply is not enough against the team who won the Champions League last year.”

Sebastijan Škorc
Head coach of OK Merkur MARIBOR

News:
CEV – European Volleyball
OZS – Volleyball Slovenia