Epic battle propels Slovenia to EuroVolley final against Italy

Slovenia and Italy will clash for the men’s CEV EuroVolley 2021 title on Sunday. Slovenia booked the first spot in the gold medal match after an epic nail-biting victory over hosts Poland. After a semifinal battle that lasted well over two and a half hours, coach Alberto Giuliani’s squad celebrated with a 3-1 (17-25, 32-30, 25-16, 37-35) win, which sent Slovenia to their third continental final, after 2015 and 2019. This was the fourth consecutive European Championship, in which Poland were eliminated by the very same opponent. Later on Saturday, Italy produced a 3-1 (29-27, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18) upset of defending champs Serbia to advance to their 11th final in EuroVolley history.

At a sold-out Spodek Arena in Katowice, Slovenia took an early two-point lead. It didn’t last long. Cheered on by the enthusiastic home crowd, Poland scored seven consecutive points, with Jakub Kochanowski behind the serving line, to gain a 12-7 advantage. The Polish serves continued to create difficulties for the Slovenian reception and not only created opportunities for the Polish blockers, but Wilfredo Leon himself aced twice in a row for 21-14, before sub-in Lukasz Kaczmarek aced the 25-17 winner.

Slovenia improved their performance on all counts in set two. Poland recovered from the three-point deficit they had at 16-19, but then wasted a double set point to prompt a thrilling epilogue in set two. Spectacular rallies pushed it deep into overtime. Giuliani’s challenge reversed a referee call on Klemen Cebulj’s serve to reveal a line-grazing ace and give Slovenia another set point, which Toncek Stern’s spike converted to a 32-30 win.

The third set was completely one-sided. Riding the momentum, the Slovenes established total control on the court to cruise to a 25-16 blowout, shaped up with a blistering hammer from Alen Pajenk through the middle.

The fourth set offered 57 minutes of nip-and-tuck volleyball, where the lead swung from three points in favour of Slovenia to four in favour of Poland before a thrilling overtime, in which the visiting side were stopped from celebrating the victory twice by the video challenge, before finally rejoicing on a successful Toncek Stern hit for 37-35.

Toncek Stern and Wilfredo Leon shared the top scorer honours of the match with 20 points each.

After 8-4 Serbia’s way in the first set of the second semifinal, Italy scored five in a row to take the lead momentarily. The gap was never extended beyond two points, one way or another, through the rest of the set. Serbian middle Marko Podrascanin’s nine points were not enough to claim the set, while Italy’s more efficient spiking helped them towards a 29-27 overtime win.

Following a similar storyline, Italy went on a five-point run to gain a 12-9 lead in the second set. This time, however, they never let the Serbs take the lead again. With Alessandro Michieletto leading the way, the Italians allowed the opponents only to catch up on a number of occasions, but eventually doubled their lead after a 25-22 close on an ace by Giulio Pinali.

Spearheaded by Aleksandar Atanasijevic, the Serbian offence stepped up its performance in set three. The defending champs were in the lead for the most part of the set. Their opponents managed to draw level at 23-23, but Uros Kovacevic converted the first Serbian set point to a 25-23 win with a pulverising pipe.

Italy stormed into the fourth set on a 5-0 run and never looked back. Taking advantage of the far too many unforced errors by the Serbs, including the long serve accounting for the closing point, coach Ferdinando De Giorgi’s squad mastered a 25-18 win to draw the curtain on the match.

Alessandro Michieletto produced the match high 23 points towards Italy’s success. Giulio Pinali added 17, while 2019 MVP Uros Kovacevic finished with 16 points for Serbia.