Slovenia-Montenegro
Slovenia’s Lana Scuka topped the scorer chart with 16 points, including one service winner and three blocks. Ela Pintar helped her side with 10 kills.
Slovenia started aggressively holding a perfect lead (8-0) at the first technical break. Montenegro then made two receiving errors as head coach Joze Casar’s squad enlarged their advantage to 14-0. Slovenia maintained their poise and didn’t let the hosts to get closer.
The Slovenians went off to a 16-5 lead in the second set, but Montenegro, cheered on by the screaming home fans, refused to surrender easily and added some points to their records to make it 9-21. The blue-and-whites stayed focus and soon closed it out thanks to efficient blocking and powerful spiking.
Going down two sets, Montenegro played cooler without pressure to take a 3-1 and 4-3 lead early in the third period. But the Slovenians staged a 3-0 run to change around the score at 8-5. Montenegro did their best but could not strike back after the Slovenian strengthened defence and counter-attacked well. When Slovenia was leading 24-9, Sasa Zdovc leaped from the right for a well-timed spike to close out the uncontested duel.
Montenegro player Iva Mandic “We gained a lot of experience. It was not always easy as we gradually lost self-confidence. Anyway, we’ll enjoy the finals here in Bar as spectators.”
Slovenia captain Eva Mori: “We stayed much focused tonight as we knew that we need a win to play for the classification matches. We served very well, putting a lot of pressure on the Montenegrin receivers.”
To read more news from this competition click on Youth European Championship 2013 F.
