Slovenia and Finland celebrate victorious start in Varna

Slovenia and Finland started their men’s CEV EuroVolley 2023 campaigns on a high note on Wednesday. In their Pool B openers at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, Slovenia came back from a set down to defeat Ukraine, and Finland cruised past Croatia in straight sets.

Slovenia v Ukraine 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20)

21-year-old opposite Rok Mozic led the Slovenian scorers with 18 points, including two kill blocks, but middle blocker Alen Pajenk was also another strong contender for man of the match. His excellent blocking served as a momentum changer in the second set and he registered five stuffs, two aces and a 78% success rate in attack towards a total of 14 points. Ukrainian opposite Vasyl Tupchii was the best scorer of the match with 23 points to his name, including two aces and four blocks.

With Rok Mozic on fire, Slovenia was quick to establish control and broke away with a 16-12 lead in the first set. However, Ukraine started putting pressure on the opponents with their serving and their blocking, and with Vasyl Tupchii also delivering in offense, the Ukrainians managed to change the course of the set and take it by a narrow 25-23. Riding the momentum, Ukraine had the early initiative in set three and opened a three-point gap, but this time Slovenia managed to have its way, thanks to some fantastic blocking from Alen Pajenk, and finished the set off at 25-22 with a blistering ace from Gregor Ropret.

Despite Tupchii continuing his prolific scoring, Slovenia dominated most of the third set. Led by captain Tine Urnaut in both scoring and reception and capitalizing on abundant Ukrainian unforced errors, they claimed the set by 25-20. A lot of mistakes were made on both sides of the net during the fourth set, but it was Slovenia who made better use of the situation to continue its one-sided domination. Ukraine woke up late into the set, but it was too late to change the outcome, 25-20 and 3-1 Slovenia’s way.

Finland v Croatia 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22)

Finland’s captain and setter Eemi Tervaportti arranged for a perfect celebration of his 250th national team cap and led the team to a convincing shutout of Croatia. In addition to scoring five points himself (one ace, one block and three kills out of three attempts in attack), he helped turn a 36% excellent reception into a 65% success rate for the team in attack, and pushed three of his teammates to double digits: Joonas Jokela with 12 points, Luka Marttila with 11 and Niko Suihkonen with 10. Marko Sedlacek was Croatia’s leading scorer with 11 points, while Kruno Nikacevic raised four kill blocks towards a 10-point total.

Inspired by the hundreds of Finnish fans, who travelled to Varna to support their team, Finland quickly broke away in the first set and never looked back. With opposite Joonas Jokela owning the net in offense and delivering seven kills, including a block-out shot for the 25-19 set winner, Finland edged forward on the scoreboard.    The northerners continued their domination throughout the second set, this time stepping up their serving effort. While Niko Suihkonen spearheaded the attack, they fired four aces. With one of them, Luka Marttila closed the set at another 25-19. Croatia tried fighting back, stepping up its spiking in set three, but the Finns were unstoppable. Eemi Tervaportti did his magic in organizing the offence and Marttila converted a few of those sets into points. He was the one who hammered the 25-22 winner to close the match in three sets.

Thursday’s third competition day in Pool B will feature Ukraine against Croatia at 17:30 local time, and Finland against hosts Bulgaria at 20:30.