MEVZA League – AICH/DOB leave no chance to table leaders MARIBOR

The main round of the MEVZA League has reached its decisive stage. On Saturday night, SK Zadruga AICH/DOB (AUT) cruised to a comprehensive 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-21) home win over table leaders OK MERKUR MARIBOR (SLO). As a result, Austria’s heavyweight moved up to third place in the current standing on 18 points, resulting from six wins and four losses. For OK MERKUR MARIBOR, on the other hand, it was already the last matchup in the main round, which they finish on an 8-4 win-loss record.

PHOTO © CEV

“Our team delivered another remarkable performance tonight! I can hardly believe how well we are playing this January. But we have to stay with our feet on the ground and keep working hard. There are still many difficult challenges awaiting us,” AICH/DOB sports director Martin Micheu was satisfied.

Sergej Drobnic and Konrad Formela for the hosts as well as MARIBOR’s Yevhenii Kisiliuk split the best scorer’s honours with 12 points each.

While defending champions ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO), AICH/DOB and fourth-placed OK Calcit KAMNIK (SLO) are still competing for a spot at the Final Four tournament, MARIBOR is already qualified for this season’s climax that will be hosted by Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT). As organisers, The ‘Nordmänner’ have also secured their participation in the grand finale, scheduled for February 27 and 28 at the Zwettl sports hall.

PHOTO © PHOTO © HAOK Mladost ZAGREB

On Saturday, the Final Four tournament hosts celebrated their fifth win this season, emerging victorious 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-22) from the clash with HAOK Mladost Zagreb (CRO).

“The team’s attitude was excellent. We played aggressively when it was necessary. Besides that, our serve was very solid today. Now it is important to take the momentum gained from that win into the next matches,” URW’s head coach Zdenek Smejkal explained. Mladost’s Sandro Dukic (nine points) was “very sad about the way we lost today. We made a lot of mistakes and we were not playing aggressively enough in most situations. I hope we can do better in the coming matches!”

Koendert Daan Streutker and Marek Sulc top-scored for the winning side with 20 and 19 points, respectively, while Mladost’s Ivan Zeljkovic managed to put 12 to his name.

The MEVZA League will continue on Wednesday, when Calcit Volley will be hosting bottom of the table UVC Holding GRAZ (AUT).

MEVZA League

30.01.: HAOK Mladost Zagreb (CRO) vs. Union Raiffeisen Waldviertel (AUT) 1:3 (21:25, 25:21, 21:25, 22:25)
30.01.: SK Zadruga Aich/Dob (AUT) vs. OK MERKUR Maribor (SLO) 3:0 (25:19, 25:22, 25:21)
03.02., 20:00: OK Calcit KAMNIK (SLO) vs. UVC Holding GRAZ (AUT)
06.02., 17:00: HAOK Mladost ZAGREB (CRO) vs. UVC Holding GRAZ (AUT)
07.02., 18:00: SK Zadruga AICH/DOB (AUT) vs. OK Calcit KAMNIK (SLO)

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