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The silver team from the last CEV EuroVolley confirmed the role of the favorite as they defeated Croatia 3:1 (25:20, 25:18, 19:25, 25:12). The third set was taken from them by Leo Andric who scored five aces in a row but otherwise Slovenia was the better team.

Croatia entered the game with energy and thanks to Leo Andric’s great serves followed by good attack took an early lead 4:0. Their opponent answered almost immediately as they equalized after fantastic blocks (6:6). Croatian setter Tsimafei Zhukouski was hit with the ball after his teammate tried to kick it and he had to be substituted. Slovenia were better in reception and their attacks were stronger. Especially outside spiker Klemen Cebulj scored one point after another. His team grabbed the lead (14:12, 17:13) and controlled it for the rest of the opening set (25:20).

After his unpleasant injury, Zhukouski was back in the game but it didn’t change the overall direction of the game. The Slovenians were more emphatic and better on the serve. Alen Pajenk’s ace changed the score once again (8:4). They extended it into a nine point lead (21:12) and without breaking a sweat won the second set.

An otherwise quite equal third set had an unexpected ending. Slovenia played very well in attack and led for most of the time. However a successful Nikacevic spike followed by a Slovenian mistake meant a draw (19:19). Leo Andric was on the serve and he performed something unseen. He scored five aces in a row and decided that this match was going to continue.

Slovenian went directly for their goal in the fourth set. A great build up extended by amazing serves made the fourth set one sided. Firstly, they led 10:4, then 14:6 and finally finished this game (25:12).

Alen Pajenk, middle blocker: “It was a tough match, we knew that Croatia would come as hard as possible. You could see this in the beginning of the game. Then we started to play better, beated their blocks and improved our defence. It the third set they had a good serve when they scored five aces in a row. Fortunately for us we came back even stronger and brought home this victory.”

Leo Andric, Croatia opposite: “Slovenia was better even though we tried our best. They came for the victory from the beginning. I managed to surprise them with my serve. I can’t really tell why it was that good, I just tried it. Unfortunately in the next set we were completely down and it wasn’t all right.”