Croatia continues winning streak, Ukraine wins first match

#EuroLeagueW: Ukraine vs. Slovenia

The Slovenian volleyball players, who started their participation in this year’s Golden European League with an important victory over Estonia, this time faced the Ukrainians in Rakvere. The last time they played against Ukraine was at last year’s European Championship, where they lost by a small margin. Ukraine, the winners of last year's Golden League, began the first set confidently, although it was immediately clear that the opponent, Slovenia, was not an easy one. Slovenia performed better on blocks in the first set, though they fell behind Ukraine in other aspects such as attack and serve. Nevertheless, in a hard-fought endgame, Alessandro Orefice’s team proved stronger and took the lead 0-1.

In the second set, Ukraine corrected previous mistakes and began to build a significant advantage, at one point leading 12-6. In this set, they also doubled their block performance. By the end of the set, Ukraine maintained their lead and approached the end with a score of 20-13. The yellow-blue team had no particular problems finishing the set at 25-15. The set score was tied at 1-1.

In the third set, everything was almost the opposite. The Slovenian team took the lead from the start and maintained it until the middle of the set, reaching 11-16. Meanwhile, Ukraine began to struggle again with blocks. Towards the end, the Ukrainians managed a series of good attacks, but it was not enough to win. Slovenia led 1-2, and the match continued.

In the fourth set, where Slovenian coach Orefice reintroduced Najdic, we saw an even start (3:3). Lorber Fijok’s attack and Planinšec’s fault put Slovenia ahead 5:4. A turnover followed, with the opponents leading 7:5 and 9:7, but Velikonja Grbac’s block brought Slovenia to within one point (9:10), and Lorber Fijok’s block tied the score at 11. Haluzan Sagadin re-entered the game. Ukraine, under the serving of captain Svitlana Dorsman, took the lead at 16:12, prompting our bench to call a timeout. Strong attacks from the opponents secured an 18:13 lead, but with Planinšec serving and through Velikonja Grbac, Slovenia closed the gap to 16:19. Despite another timeout called by Orefice at 16:21, the Ukrainians increased their tempo at the end of the set and secured a 25:17 victory.

At the start of the decisive fifth set, the Ukrainian volleyball players performed better, with strong serves from Maievska denying Slovenian attacks and quickly taking a 4:1 lead. Ukraine demonstrated all their best qualities in the decisive fifth set: strong tempo play, quick attacks, forcing the opponents to make mistakes, and solid blocking. The set ended 15:11 in Ukraine’s favor.

Final score 3:2 (23:25, 25:15, 20:25, 25:17, 15:11)

MVP for Ukraine: Oleksandra Milenko (18 points, 4 killing blocks)

#EuroLeagueM: Belgium vs. Croatia

The first set ended with a score of 21:25 in favor of Belgium, with their decisive 7-0 run proving too much for Croatia to overcome. But then the "Croatian story" began.

In the second set, with Dirlic serving, Croatia made a 4-0 run to reach 21:19, and the set ended 26:24 thanks to a block by Jakopec. The Croats started the third set with a 3-0 lead and maintained control to win 25:22. The fourth set featured an exhausting positional battle for every point. Belgium was not willing to give up easily, and Croatia nearly lost their lead but eventually managed to withstand the almost endless rallies and Belgium's solid defense. They were the first to reach match point and finished the set at 26:24.

Final score 1:3 (25:21, 24:26, 22:25, 24:26)

MVP for Croatia: Setter Petar Visic
MVP for Belgium: Seppe Rotty (15 points)