VNL: Slovenia bounces back, blanks Netherlands
Slovenia during a game against the Netherlands in the Volleyball Nations League at Mall of Asia Arena. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Slovenia got right back on the Volleyball Nations League’s win column after sweeping the Netherlands, 25-20, 32-30, 25-22, at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on Sunday.
After absorbing a 25-13, 25-22, 25-17 loss against Italy on Friday, the Slovenians bounced back to improve to 8-4.
“It was a very important win especially after our loss against Italy. It was a very tough loss and it was not easy for us,” Klemen Čebulj said after finishing with 13 points.
“But we stuck together and talked about what we needed to change, what needed to be our attitudes and our goals to continue in the right way.”
But it wasn’t an easy win for Slovenia as they had to outlast the Netherlands in a grueling second set.
The Netherlands was already at set point but Čebulj converted on a kill to raise the set point to 26.
The back-and-forth continued until the Slovenians finally broke loose after a Jan Kozamernik ace and an Alen Pajenk block.
Tine Urnaut topscored for Slovenia with 14 points while Rok Možič also helped the cause with 13.
Nimir Abdel-Aziz, meanwhile, finished with 22 points in a losing effort for the Netherlands, which crashed to a 5-7 card.
