Slovenia stay perfect with dominant semi-final win

Slovenia are yet to drop a single set in this year’s women’s CEV Volleyball European League as on Sunday they needed three sets only to beat Slovakia in the first round of the semis. Slovenia had previously topped the charts of the League Round via six consecutive 3-0 wins. They still will have to win also the re-match scheduled for July 1 in Ljubljana though if they are to advance to the final – where they would play the winners of the other semi-final tie featuring Sweden and Hungary. 

On Sunday, before a crowd of some 1,000 fans gathered in Nitra, Slovenia looked especially dominant in the first and third sets (25-16, 25-16) of their matchup with Slovakia, while they had to come from behind to edge the second 26-24 to keep their immaculate record in the competition this far. Slovenia recorded as many as 12 blocks in the process (vs only three for Slovakia), outnumbering their rivals in all other key components of the game as well. Sasa Planinsec was the most prolific blocker of the game with five stuffs to her name. Three of their players finished the match in double digits with Maša Pucelj leading the way with 14 points followed by Fatoumatta Sillah (13) and Lorena Lorber Fijok (10). Team captain Karolina Fričová was the only Slovak player to get past the 10-point mark (13). 

The two teams will lock horns again on Wednesday in Ljubljana – with Slovenia looking to capitalise on the home-court advantage to add another chapter to their impressive success story in this year’s European League. 

Second set slips away

Slovenia arrived in Nitra without having dropped a single set during the preliminary phase and immediately showed why they topped the standings. Lorena Lorber Fijok opened the match with an ace as the visitors quickly built leads of 4-1, 11-5 and 15-11. Slovakia fought back several times to within two points, but after closing the gap to 16-18 they failed to score again, allowing Slovenia to comfortably seal the opening set.
The second set offered Slovakia a golden opportunity to hand Slovenia their first lost set of the tournament. The home side led from the beginning, moving ahead 6-3, 8-5 and 11-6 before stretching the advantage to eight points at 14-6. From that moment, however, Slovenia demonstrated remarkable resilience, gradually cutting into the deficit before turning an 18-16 disadvantage into a 20-18 lead.
Slovakia still earned a set point at 24-23 after a successful video challenge confirmed a Slovenian touch on Karin Šunderlíková’s attack, but failed to convert it. Slovenia immediately capitalised on their first set point before controlling the third set to take a commanding advantage into Wednesday’s return leg.

Šepeľová returns

“It was clear from the beginning that this would be a difficult match. Slovenia are a very strong team, but we have to improve before Wednesday’s return leg. We need to make better decisions in attack because the other areas of our game were good. We have to make better choices whenever we create scoring opportunities. The statistics showed that we made more attacking errors, while in the other aspects we matched them,” said Slovakia head coach Martino Volpini. 

Outside hitter Zuzana Šepeľová made her first appearance in this year’s European League after suffering an injury against Slovenia during the preparation tournament played in Kranjska Gora.

“So far I have had only one full training session with the team, so I am definitely not at one hundred percent yet, but I hope to get back into rhythm quickly. There is some symbolism in the fact that I got injured against Slovenia and also made my comeback against them. Of course, I wish the result had been different, but I believe we can produce a better performance in Ljubljana on Wednesday,” said the two-time Slovak Volleyball Player of the Year (2024 and 2025).

“We are obviously disappointed. We saw our opportunity, but unfortunately we could not take it. However, this semi-final tie is not over yet. We will do everything we can to improve our performance, play much better and win in Slovenia," added team captain Karolína Fričová.

Slovenia head coach Alessandro Orefice was pleased with his team’s performance but insisted there is still work to do ahead of the second leg. “We played a very good first set, then our concentration dropped a little before we found our rhythm again. In a semi-final like this, you cannot afford to lose your focus, intensity or attention for even a moment. We controlled the opening set almost too comfortably, which I honestly did not expect. The girls had an excellent rhythm on court, but afterwards we relaxed because we felt we had the match firmly under control. That is a big mistake. We have to stay focused until the very last ball. Slovakia have great quality on the  wings, and their middle blocker Hrušecká also played an excellent match. For the second leg we will need even greater concentration from the first point to the last, without losing our rhythm for a single second,” said the 42-year-old Italian coach.