Defending Champions ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO) went as the clear favourites into the MEVZA League clash with bottom of the table UVC Holding GRAZ (AUT) on Tuesday night. Slovenia’s heavyweight also lived up to the role, because ACH Volley needed just 70 minutes to celebrate a clean sweep (25-18, 25-23, 25-20) at the Raiffeisen Sportpark.
Therefore, the participants in the CEV Champions League pool stage recaptured the lead in the current standing after increasing their points to 18 on a 6-1 win-loss record. Competition rookies UVC Holding GRAZ, on the other hand, have not been able to collect a single point from the seven MEVZA League matches they have contested so far.
“Of course,” UVC Holding GRAZ middle blocker David Reiter said, “to suffer seven defeats in a row is certainly not nice, otherwise we learn a lot from those matches against such strong opponents like ACH Volley LJUBLJANA!”
Mark Kremer for the hosts as well as ACH Volley’s Bozidar Vucicevic and Jan Pokersnik split the best scorer’s honours with 15 points each. The winning side was clearly better in attack (63% vs 47%) and slightly better at blocking (3 vs 2). Both teams scored one ace, the hosts made one own mistake less (21 vs 22).
The MEVZA League main round is already going to resume on Wednesday, when OK Calcit KAMNIK (SLO) will be locking horns with Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT). The hosts are currently sitting in fifth place one point behind the ‘Nordmänner’. Calcit KAMNIK captain Mitja Gasparini said: “I do not know much about our next opponents, but they had to postpone some matches due the COVID-19 pandemic in the last weeks”. Calcit KAMNIK have taken five points from the four matches they have contested so far, while Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL have a 2-3 win-loss record.
MEVZA League main round
15.12.: UVC Holding GRAZ (AUT) vs ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO) 0-3 (18-25, 23-25, 20-25)
16.12., 20:00: OK Calcit KAMNIK (SLO) vs Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT)
18.12., 18:00: OK Calcit Volley KAMNIK (SLO) vs OK Merkur MARIBOR (SLO)
19.12., 19:00: SK Zadruga AICH/DOB (AUT) vs HAOK Mladost ZAGREB (CRO)
20.12., 17:00: Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (AUT) vs OK Calcit KAMNIK (SLO)
20.12., 18:00: OK Merkur MARIBOR (SLO) vs HAOK Mladost ZAGREB (CRO)
results, match stats, schedule and standing
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