In the matches of the 3rd round of the SuperLeague, the most interesting was certainly the derby between Mladost and Ribola Kaštela, which in the end ended with a convincing victory of the hosts of 3 0 (19, 21, 11), in 79 minutes of play.
Karlo Jakovac, a young receiver-shooter of Mladost, said after the match:
“Congratulations to the team on the victory. We knew that we must not enter the game relaxed because we played against a good and quality team. We did everything as the coach asked us to, the team cooperates better and better. Now we are focusing on the next game in the second round of qualifications for the CEV Champions League.”
Sisak defeated the rookie in the league, the team of Gorica, with 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18), and with the same result 3-1 (25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20) Kitro Varaždin was also better than Centrometal. Marko Ličina from the Varaždin winning team said after the match:
„Hard-fought victory, it was dense the whole game, but in the end, we deservedly celebrated and took all three points. We were expecting such a match, and we were preparing for it, after all, this is a local derby that is always full of tension. The Centrometal team is good, experienced, they have individual quality, and they have strengthened even more this season, but it seems that the coordination that we have and they obviously do not have yet has gone to our side. We are in a better competitive rhythm because they played only against Marsonia, which is not currently an opponent from the upper house, while we also had a difficult match with Kaštela, so we did a better job in that segment. And the corrector’s injury must have upset them a little.”
Earlier, Marsonia beat Zadar 3-0 (13, 19, 15), and the match between Rijeka CO and Split was postponed.
For women, contrary to some expectations, the three matches ended in victories in three sets. Vukovar beat Brda away 3- 0 (17, 12, 23), while Marina Kaštela beat Dubrovnik 3-0 (22, 19, 18) without any major problems. With the same result 3-0 (9, 19, 23), Osijek won the newcomers in the SuperLeague, Veli Vrh.
In Sunday’s match of the 3rd round at home, Kaštela lost to Karlovac 1-3 (19-25, 15-25, 25-19, 20-25). After the match, Dijana Karatović from the Kaštela team said: “Congratulations to Karlovac on the victory. We can still see that we are a young and insufficiently well-coordinated team. We still need to learn to attack our opponents a little better, but I hope that we will get better from round to round. “
Jelena Grgić from the winning team from Karlovac said:
“We won three valuable points in Kaštela. The match was tense from start to finish. Congratulations to my teammates on a great match, she was seen from the beginning of desire and will. This victory against a team from the Super League that is always at the top means a lot to us, it pushes us forward to progress as much as possible. This is only our third game in the Super League and I am very proud of all my teammates. ”
The match between Rijeka CO and Split, where the guests were leading 1-0 and 2-1 in sets, ended in the fifth set, after which celebrated the home volleyball players with 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 27-29, 25-15, 15-10).
And for the end of Sunday, the long-awaited Croatian and city derby, the match between Dinamo and Mladost in ŠD Peščenica, which also went into the uncertainty of the fifth set. After Dinamo took the lead with 1-0, Mladost equalized and turned it around to 2-1 in sets, but the fourth set again belonged to Dinamo for a 2-2 equalizer. In the fifth dramatic set, Mladostašica celebrated at the end with 3-2 (23-25, 25-16, 25-20, 19-25, 21-19). Dinamo led in the fifth set with 6- 3 and 8- 5, the former had the match ball at 14-13, but at the end of the 25th point of the most efficient Mladostaska Dinka Kulić, the guests won the fifth set with 21-19, after 128 minutes of play. Mihaljević is the most efficient with Dinamo with 23 points.
Andrea Mihaljević, a Dinamo volleyball player, said after the match:
„Although Mladost is a strong opponent, we definitely did not enter the game with the attitude of a loser, I think that was seen through our game. We fought to the very end. We may have had to react smarter at some points, but honestly, I think it’s a matter of experience, which in the end prevailed on the side of Mladost.”
