Overview
The first #EuroVolleyM semi-final is on! On one side of the net Volleyball fans will see the World Champions Poland, who got to this stage in a very dominant fashion, losing a set only at the very beginning of their journey. Their opponents are the home favourites who earned the right to be among Europe's top four by beating the current European Champions Russia in the quarterfinal and eho proved that with the aid of their amazing crowd of fans nothing is impossible.
Head-to-head
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Poland and Slovenia will meet for the fourth time at EuroVolley.
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Poland won the first encounter 3-1 in the 2015 group phase, but then lost in 3-2 in the quarterfinals (16-14 final set).
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Slovenia also won the third match between these two teams, the playoff match for the quarterfinals in 2017 (3-0).
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Last August, Poland qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after winning their qualifying group with Slovenia, France and Tunisia. They beat Slovenia 3-1 in that group. Slovenia's three top scoring players in that match - Klemen Cebulj (20), Toncek Stern (14) and Alen Pajenk (13) all scored more points than Poland's top scorer Mateusz Bieniek (12), but Slovenia also gave away 33 points in errors.
Poland
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Two-time reigning world champions Poland claimed eight podium finishes in EuroVolley tournaments - G1-S5-B2.
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After winning the European title in 2009, Poland finished in third (2011), ninth (2013), fifth (2015) and 10th place (2017).
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Poland won one (2009) and lost two (1977, 2011) of their three semi-final appearances at EuroVolley.
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Poland have won each of their last six matches in this EuroVolley in straight sets. Only two teams won seven matches in a row without dropping a set - Soviet Union (16, 1950-1955) and the German Democratic Republic (7, 1963).
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The last team to claim the European title with a maximum of one lost set was the Netherlands in 1997. Only Yugoslavia avoided a straight-set defeat against Holland that campaign (3-1 loss in the final).
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Poland have won their last 11 matches in EuroVolley, Olympic Qualification Tournament and Volleyball Nations League following a semi-final defeat against Russia (3-1) in the VNL on 13 July.
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Wilfredo Leon Venero (76) leads Poland in scoring in the 2019 EuroVolley. He also led his team in scoring in their 3-0 win versus Germany in the quarterfinals (18 points).
Slovenia
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Slovenia are aiming for their second podium in a EuroVolley tournament, after a second place in 2015. They lost the 2015 final in straight sets against France.
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Slovenia beat defending champions Russia 3-1 in the quarterfinals, after having lost the group match against Russia 3-0 at this EuroVolley.
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Tine Urnaut scored 13 points for Slovenia in their quarterfinal win. Mitja Gasparini scored 12 points including five aces in that match.
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Slovenia reached the semi-finals at EuroVolley once before - they won 3-1 against Italy in 2015.
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Slovenia have won five matches at a single EuroVolley for the first time. They could now win their sixth match in 2019.
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Tine Urnaut (87) is Slovenia's leading scorer in this year's EuroVolley.
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Alen Pajenk and Poland's Mateusz Bieniek have each scored 13 points from killing blocks in the 2019 EuroVolley.
Vital Heynen"They beat Russia, they beat Bulgaria, they deserve to be in the semifinal. They are one of the best four teams, clearly. However, I hope they will not be one of the best two - it could happen, but we will try to beat them.""
head coach of Poland comenting on Team Slovenia
Jani Kovacic"I believe we have the confidence we need. They are a strong team, the current World Champions. We will definitely have to play strong since the first point on. We will have to show them that this is our house and accompanied with strong support from the stands we can win."
libero (SLO)
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Match Polls
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Officials
First RefereeMilan RAJKOVICCROSecond RefereeEldar ZULFUGAROVAZE
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Venue Information
The Stožice Arena, which opened the 10th of August 2010, is the biggest multipurpose arena in Slovenia with the full capacity of 12,480 visitors. It is a home to basketball team KK Olimpija Ljubljana, volleyball team ACH Volley Ljubljana and handball team RK Krim Ljubljana, and several national teams, among them the volleyball national teams. It has been also holding many music concerts and manifestations. Capacity: 12500
- How To Attend
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Watch Live
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Following the conclusion of the match, a short recap video will be made available on the platform.
Find your Broadcaster
Quarterfinal Highlights
#EuroVolleyM
Team
Previous Games
| 28/09/2019 | vs. |
3 - 0 | W | Go to Match Centre |
| 26/09/2019 | vs. |
1 - 3 | L | Go to Match Centre |
| 23/09/2019 | vs. |
3 - 0 | W | Go to Match Centre |
- All Time
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30Competitions Played
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4Titles
- Competition
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9Matches Played
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8Matches Won
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89%Win %
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25Sets Won
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720Points Won
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56%Attack %
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64%Reception %
Team
- Birth Date: 1988
- Birth Place: Wałcz
- Height: 193 cm
- Birth Date: 1987
- Birth Place: POLAND
- Height: 205 cm
- Birth Date: 1995
- Birth Place: Olsztyn
- Height: 200 cm
- Birth Date: 1993
- Birth Place: Santiago de Cuba
- Height: 201 cm
- Birth Date: 1995
- Birth Place: Jawor
- Height: 196 cm
- Birth Date: 1997
- Birth Place: Giżycko
- Height: 199 cm
- Birth Date: 1994
- Birth Place: Blachownia
- Height: 208 cm
- Birth Date: 1989
- Birth Place: POLAND
- Height: 201 cm
Recent Results
Gallery
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Slovenia do it again! World champs denied spot in EuroVolley final!
The combined total number of points scored by both teams throughout the entire match.
The total length of the match, from the first serve through until the last point has ended.
Total number of people in attendance at the venue – taken at the end of the second set.
The combined total number of successful spikes achieved by both teams throughout the entire match.
An average of the two team service reception percentages from the complete match.
The number of successful point winning blocks of POLAND compared to SLOVENIA.
POLAND number of service aces compared to SLOVENIA
Errors leading to points of POLAND, next to those from SLOVENIA
Klemen Čebulj"It was the heart that decided today. We played as a team, we played as one. This is Slovenia, this is us. The whole Stozice Arena showed that we can breathe together as one. This paid off today"
outside-spiker (SLO)
Tonček Štern"I can only say this is not all. We can show more and we are not finished yet. We have one more stage to go and I am confident that we can win the Grand Final and come back with the gold."
opposite (SLO)
Maciej Muzaj"It’s hard for me to speak now – we had different goals, different thinking about this tournament. We wanted to play in the Grand Finale for the championship. The opponent played a really good match tonight. We gave it our 100 percent but it was not enough tonight. No doubt the crowd was a great support to the hosts. It’s not that it hindered us, but clearly gave wings to Slovenia."
opposite (POL)
"It’s a tough moment but this is the first opponent who set forth hard conditions and today we didn’t play what we have played so far. Slovenia are upper-shelf rivals. We had the ball on our side, we had the counters but they looked really bad tonight. I don’t know the statistics, but when we had the ball in the air we did not convert it into points. Not being able to finish the balls on your side makes the opponent win – that’s all. Tonight we are sad but we need to reset soon – bronze medal is also important."
Dawid Konarski
opposite (POL)
