MAASEIK cruise to straight set win over young Mladost side
News
In their first matchup against each other since 1998, Greenyard MAASEIK secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory (25-23, 25-16, 25-23) over Mladost ZAGREB and the Belgians will have to take at least two sets from the re-match next week to claim their spot in the 8th Finals of the men’s CEV Cup. Interestingly, that last match from 1998 featured on the court the current Sports Director of Mladost, Darko Antunović.
Mladost played most of the match with young players – including Gabrijel Cvanciger (born in 2003), Roko Vlašić (2004), and libero Marko Repek - who was born in 2003 as well. Next week, Mladost will be trying to spring a surprise when they play again against MAASEIK – this time in Belgium.
Fulvio Bertini, head coach of Greenyard MAASEIK: “We knew coming here that we would have had a difficult match and we expected a tough challenge as we did experience it in the first and third sets. This is an important victory. We have had many matches over the last three, four weeks and it is important to keep going like this. Congratulations to my players since they managed the most important moments of this match extremely well.”
Jolan Cox“We played a good match here in Zagreb, but we had too many ups and downs in the first and third sets. This applies to the end of the second set as well, where we lost a bit of focus - we should have been a little sharper in those moments. Despite this, I am happy with the victory and that we can take three points home ahead of next week’s re-match.”
Player of Greenyard MAASEIK
Ratko Peris, head coach of Mladost: “We made some stupid mistakes in key moments of the match, whereas MAASEIK knew how to play smart. I am happy with the way my young players performed in this match after taking to the court – I think they showed good things. They need more such matches to gain experience. We will mobilise all of our strengths for the next match, and we will see if we can spring a surprise there.”
Roko Vlašić“Congratulations to both teams on a good match! I think we caught a good start, but we made some mistakes at the end of the first set. In the second set, we struggled in reception and our coach made some changes. We took some momentum from there to have a good start to the third set, but they finished it better than we did. I am excited ahead of the next match in Belgium, and I am confident that we can achieve a better result than we did here in Zagreb.”
Player of Mladost