HAOK Mladost Zagreb
Titleholders HAOK Mladost Zagreb and OK Kaštela joined the three best teams from the first round; OK Marina Kaštela, HAOK Rijeka CO and ŽOK Enna Vukovar.
HAOK Mladost Zagreb women team started the season in CEV Champions League qualifications, losing unfortunately to Khimik Yuzhny in the Golden set of the second round. Famous “Mladostašice” played in MEVZA, finishing fourth and one spot short of Final Four in Nova Gorica, but also reaching quarter-finals in CEV Cup after the long 26 years.
“Our goal is to reach the first place in the playoffs. We know all the teams very well, so we will prepare for every game as best as we can.” – Head coach Saša Ivanišević was confident about Mladost’s chances in Superliga.
OK Kaštela also started the season in Europe and MEVZA, losing to Mladost in 16th finals of CEV Cup and finishing last in MEVZA.
“After the end of the MEVZA league, where we got the chance to play 12 hard matches, now the most important part of the season starts for us. Although we only won 3 matches in MEVZA, those performances will be our guide for the games in Superliga that follow. I hope that those victories raised the level of self-confidence of our players. Only with maximum engagement in training and matches, we can give our best performance, as our minimum goal is to once again reach the second place.” – OK Kaštela head coach Zoran Grgantov announced his team chances for the second round of women’s Superliga.
The other three teams that secured Superliga’s champions round were first-placed OK Marina Kaštela, second-placed HAOK Rijeka CO and third ŽOK Enna Vukovar, with only one point between them in the first round.
“After a very difficult and even first part of the season, we deserved that first place with 11 victories and 3 losses. Apart from Mladost Zagreb, there will now be a big fight for second place and direct placement in the semifinals of the Superliga. We have a very young team, but we will not give up and we will fight for that second place. I think we have a realistic goal, which is to reach the semifinal of Superliga’s playoff, along with reaching the semifinals of Croatian cup.” – Marina Kaštela’s head coach Milorad Krunić explained his team chances.
ŽOK Enna Vukovar and their head coach Ivana Džamarija exceeded their expectations when finishing third in the first round of Superliga.
“The goal of my team was to finish in one of the first five places, which we fully delivered. Now there are 8 extremely strong matches for us, so apart from Mladost and Kaštela, all the other 3 teams have similar chances. I hope my girls will be in contention for the place in the semifinals.” – Vukovar’s head coach Ivana Džamarija, the only women head coach in Superliga, was realistic about their chances.
The first round of the Superliga’s champions round was played last week, where OK Kaštela has easily beaten Enna Vukovar, while Marina Kaštela recorded a 3:1 win against Rijeka.
Check out the standings of the Croatian women’s elite league.
