In the 2nd round of the Volleyball Super League, the favorites justified their role and won the maximum points. Mladostaši, the current champions of Croatia, away with the newcomers in the Super League, the team of Gorica, celebrated with 3: 0 (10, 22, 16) in 67 minutes of play, while the champions, Mursi Osijek, needed four minutes more to score with identical 3: 0 (13, 17, 22) beat Rijeka.
Ivan Matoković, from Mursa Osijek, said after the match:
“We expected a victory in three sets. We had minor problems in the third set because we rotated a lot. We should have warmed up a bit, which Rijeka took advantage of, but at 15:19 we caught the rhythm and did not allow the game to continue. “
Split also won with a maximum of 3: 0 (15, 16, 22) at home Sisak, and in the neighborhood, in Kaštela, Ribola was much harder, in 90 minutes, but also with a maximum of 3: 0 (24, 23, 20) beat Kitro Varaždin in certainly the strongest match of this round.
After the game, the coach of Ribol Kaštela, Ivan Rančić, said:
“Congratulations to my team on the victory, in another game without losing a set. I have to admit we’re still in a spasm, we’re still looking for each other, but I’m sure we’ll grow from game to game. I am happy with the ambition of Varaždin, who announced victory in this match, which supports the claim that the league will be stronger and more even. We got a little muscle today, but I’m happy with the togetherness and good atmosphere in the team that we will need for the biggest Croatian volleyball derby, which awaits us in the next round against Zagreb’s Mladost. “
The coach of the visiting Kitro Varaždin team, Marko Orsolić, said after the game:
“A very difficult game, although the result of 3: 0 suggests the opposite. We made a few mistakes in the first set, instead of taking a 1-0 lead, we lost the set. After that, everything turned to the side of the hosts. Congratulations to both teams on a good game. We will analyze where we went wrong and turn to new challenges and hope for victories.”
And to keep everything in the same rhythm, the volleyball players of Centrometal made sure that it took 73 minutes to win over Marsonia by 3-0 (19, 20, 16), while in Sunday’s match between Zadar and Rovinj the guests celebrated with 3-0 (14, 19, 25), so Zadar is currently convincingly the last without points from four matches played so far.
After the 2nd round, the leader is Mladost, which played three matches and has 9 points, the second is Mursa Osijek with 6 points from two matches, as much as the third-placed Ribola Kaštela has. Centrometal is fourth with 3 points, Rovinj is also fifth with one victory, and sixth-placed Kitro Varaždin leads a group of clubs with one victory and one defeat, while at the bottom, from 10th place down, without points, are Rijeka and Gorica and the mentioned Zadar.
In the women’s volleyball team, Marina Kaštela beat Brda 3-0 (13, 7, 10) during the week, and Dinamo also easily finished away in the first game of Saturday against the newcomers in the Super League, the team from Veli Vrh, winning 3-0 (20, 21, 16). With the same result 3: 0 (16, 18, 15), Mladost, as expected, in the last match of the round, on Sunday, beat Dubrovnik, in 65 minutes.
Mirta Freund, the middle blocker of Mladost, who had 10 points in this match, said later: “We entered the game well and kept the rhythm. We squeezed them with service and kept the difference. We have a lot of games this season and our goal is for everyone to play, which we have now shown in action.”
Three matches of the 2nd round went in five sets; in Vukovar, the home team Enna Vukovar only after 139 minutes of play beat Rijeka CO with 3-2 (37-35, 23-25, 26-28, 25-22, 15-11). However, the drama does not stop there, because Split, as the host, defeated Kaštela with 3-2 (25-19, 19-25, 19-25, 25-18, 15-11), after 120 minutes of play, and Karlovac with 3-2 (28-26, 23-25, 29-31, 25-19, 15-11) won Osijek at home, in a game that lasted 136 minutes of pure-play.
After the 2nd round of the Super League, Marina Kaštela, Dinamo and Mladost are in the lead with two victories and 6 points each, while they are currently at the bottom of Brda and Dubrovnik without points.
