ACH Volley celebrate 13th MEVZA League triumph

This past weekend, Slovenia’s heavyweight ACH Volley LJUBLJANA edged their domestic rivals Calcit Volley KAMNIK 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23) to secure a record 13th title in the men’s MEVZA League.

Only six days earlier, Calcit Volley were close to winning the Slovenian Cup, but in the fifth set, ACH Volley eventually seized their chance. Calcit had finished as the second-highest ranked team in the league round of the MEVZA competition, and they wanted to win their first trophy in front of their fans. Unfortunately, they had to play without the badly injured Jan Klobučar, who injured his knee in the first set of the Cup final against ACH Volley. In the semi-finals, Calcit Volley eliminated SK Zadruga AICH/DOB of Austria, while ACH Volley edged out Merkur MARIBOR.

With a block by Vuk Todorović, the Ljubljana players were the first to take a two-point lead in the opening set (7-5), but after a block by Nik Mujanović, the home team edged ahead (8-7). On a serve by the young Kamnik opposite and a block by Uroš Planinšič, Calcit Volley escaped by three points (12-9), which led Radovan Gačič to take his first time-out in the match. With some luck, Luis Sosa Sierra gave the home team a four-point lead (15-11). When the Ljubljana team’s offence ended outside the court and the home team was up by five points (19-14), Gačič took his second break. After the time-out, the visitors stepped up a gear, especially on the serve, as they tied the score at 22 with an ace from Daniel Koncilja. Home coach Jurij Žavbi also took his second time-out. Afterwards, Uroš Pavlović gave KAMNIK their first set point, which Mujanović took advantage of.

ACH Volley had a better start to the second set, as they went up by five points (8-3) after an attack by Daniel Koncilja, and Matej Kök had much credit for their big lead with his serves. Calcit Volley quickly closed the gap to two points (6-8), but the guests regained a five-point advantage (13-8) with a block by Kök. They never let their impressive lead slip away, also because the home team’s offense was not as efficient as in the first set, and Calcit Volley also underperformed in reception. The set ended with an error by the home team.

In the third set, it was Calcit Volley who got to a two-point lead first, with Daniel Aponza scoring a point (4-2), but ACH Volley tied it at 6-6 and took their first lead (7-6) shortly afterwards on a Mašulović attack. Mujanović made two points in a row to give Calcit Volley a new lead. The second one came with an ace (11-10), but the ACH Volley players were the first to get a slightly bigger advantage (20-17) with a block by Koncilja. They did not waste the big lead again, and Nikola Gjorgiev took advantage of the second set ball.

Calcit Volley took a 4-1 lead in the fourth set on Tomislav Mitrašinović's serve, but Kök tied the score at 4-4. An ace from Aponza gave Calcit Volley another two-point lead (8-6), but Todorović tied it again on the ninth point. ACH Volley took a three-point lead (19-16) thanks to a block by Filip Šestan, and their captain Gjorgiev also played a big part in their run. Žavbi took a time-out, and Calcit Volley was only a point behind (19-20) with a block by Mujanović, before Kamnik's opposite made a successful attack to tie the score at 23. After a time-out, Gjorgiev provided ACH Volley with their first match point, and then he ended the game. The home team protested that it was a block, but the Hungarian referee decided otherwise. Unfortunately, there was no video challenge this time.