In the 21st round of the Super League, Mladost beat Vukovar 3-2, Dubrovnik beat Split 3-2 and Brda celebrated in Karlovac 3-1.
In the 21st round of the Super League, Kitro Varaždin beat Rijeka away with 3-1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-22, 25-17) in 108 minutes and kept the fourth position before the end, which leads them to the desired play off.
After the match, Kitro Varaždin player Filip Silić said:
“The first set we won quite smoothly, in the second we got relaxed, which team Rijeka used and equalized, but in the continuation, the match was again under our control. In the end we finished with a deserved 3- 1 for us, and congratulations to the players of Rijeka on the expected good resistance. “
With the same result, Mladost beat Sisak, it was 3- 1 in an unusually long 93 minutes. Rovinj team secured the peaceful end of the season and the 9th place in the Super League standings in the same way, with a 3- 1 victory (22-25, 25-16, 25-17, 30-28) against Gorica.
Mursa Osijek beat Centrometal away with 3- 0 (19, 22, 16), in just 66 minutes.
The only matches in which the guests won in this round were played earlier, Split on February 6th won Marsonia 3- 0 (17, 25, 20), and on March 24th Ribola Kaštela won team Zadar with the same result 3- 0 (12, 12, 13 ) in 62 minutes.
After the match, Marin Masnić, the coach of Zadar stated:
“Absolutely deserved victory of Ribola Kaštela, they played great, while we just came to play this game because we made our victory against Gorica earlier, so at the end of the season we are satisfied. We are playing the last round at home with Centrometal, unburdened and we expect a good game and maybe a victory.”
Ivan Bašić from Ribola Kaštela added:
“We won three new points, and now team Rovinj still remains in the last round. Thanks to the audience who faithfully follow us at the matches. “
The last, 22nd round of the regular part of the Volleyball Super League will be played on Tuesday, March 29th , and currently Mladost leads with 61 points and almost 20-1, while Mursa Osijek is second with 59 points and the same ratio of wins and losses. The third are Ribola Kaštela with 47 points and almost 16-5, while the last is team Gorica are with 1 point and 21 defeats, without a victory.
In women volleyball, the leading Mladost at home ‘played with fire’, against Enna Vukovar which took the lead with 2-0 (30-28, 25-18), and then the home team won the next three sets in a row (25-11, 25-18, 15 – 8) to win the final 3- 2, after 119 minutes of play. Mladost played without the first organizer of the game, Klara Perić, and obviously not yet recovered corrector Mika Grbavica was sitting on the bench. The middle blocker of Mladost, Martina Šamadan with 21 points was the most efficient in the match, corrector Dinka Kulić added 17, and from team Vukovar the most efficient was Vita Orlić with 16 points.
After the match, Leonard Barić, the coach of Mladost said:
“It was a specific match, we played against the third-placed team with Lorena Cesar as the organizer of the game, a fifteen-year-old who played this game very well. We still have big problems with the lineup, also we missed the first setter Klara Perić who had a car accident a few days ago, and we have been playing without the first opposite hitter Mike Grbavica for a month now. We managed to bring back the middle blocker Martina Šamadan, who in the end was the most efficient individual of the match. Since we were losing 0-2, we had to find the strength to come back and reverse the result, so we are very satisfied from that side. Of course, there were a lot of mistakes because the team played in this roaster for the first time, but in the end it turned out that we have a wide enough bench that we can replace everyone. The goal was to stay in first place, which we did, and now we still have the last round against Marina Kaštela, which will decide on that first position before the playoffs. “
Dinamo beat Rijeka CO 3-0 (21, 23, 20) away, after 76 minutes and kept the third position with 41 points and almost 14-7 as much as Vukovar has, but also two points less. Kaštela beat Osijek 3-0 (22, 22, 10) after 69 minutes, and Nina Strize, again the most efficient home player (but also the whole match) with 17 points after the game, said briefly:
“We did a good job against Osijek and won three new points, and I would like to congratulate all my teammates on the victory. We still have the last match against Vukovar away. “
Dubrovnik won in Split with 3- 2 (25-23, 13-25, 21-25, 26-24, 15- 4) in 117 minutes, but they are still the last one placed with 7 points and almost 2 -18, while team Split has the same ratio of victories and defeats, but also 13 points.
Marina Kaštela celebrated away against Veli Vrh with 3- 0 (15, 12, 11) in just 57 minutes of play.
It was interesting in Karlovac, where team Brda were guests. Although Karlovac was the favorite in this match, in the end the guests celebrated with 3- 1. They won the first set with 26-24, Karlovac equalized to 1-1 in the second, with a 25-21score, and since then the end of the game is taken over by the players from Brda, winning the third set 25-20, while home team completely sank in the fourth. In the end that set ended with 25- 7 for the guests.
Goran Zec, coach of Karlovac, said after the match:
“We haven’t been great for a while, we are afraid to play the final sets. Sets too often go to the side of rivals. We are not playing our best, we are not doing what we agreed, over all we were not at our level. And then it is difficult to play against better teams, such as Brda, an experienced team that deservedly won. I think we were a little bit overwhelmed by the good start of the season, and some away wins. We must learn not to live on the old glory, and we need to learn something from this defeat.
Ivana Perić, Brda’s coach, added:
“I would like to congratulate my team on the victory and tactically perhaps the best game of the season. This is an extremely important victory for us because we have mathematically secured a place in the Super League. I am proud that we managed to be at our best just when it was most needed. “
The last round will be played on Wednesday, March 30th , and currently team Mladost leads with 61 points and almost 21-0, while Marina Kaštela is second with 60 points and almost 20-1.
On Sunday, March 27th, the backlog match of the 12th round will be played, Split will meet Osijek (18.00), while on Monday, March 28th (17.00), the backlog match of the 20th round between Dubrovnik and Rijeka CO will be played too.
