Slovenia still undefeated at European Volleyball Championship
After the opening 3:0 win against Belarus on Thursday and a 3:1 win against Finland on Saturday, Slovenia scored another 3:0 win yesterday, pleasing the crowd of some 6,000 people in Stožice Arena.
It was a match between the current (Turkey) and the former champions (Slovenia) of the European League, with the former putting up a tough fight in the first and third sets, with Slovenia needing to work extra hard specially in the first.
Slovenia's head coach Alberto Giuliani admitted that the start of the match for Slovenia was bad, and that "it was also hard in the third set, which was not a surprise, as Turkey played very good. We are going forward, match by match."
Captain Tine Urnaut, who scored a game-high 16 points, said that every match was hard and that Turkey was a very good team, but the team "believed all the time that we can win, that we can make a comeback, that we can play better."
In the preceding encounter in Group C yesterday, Belarus defeated Finland 3:2 in a marathon as the Finns squandered a 2:0 lead in sets. Belarus, who are fighting for the fourth place in the group, won the decisive, tie-breaking set 15:13.
Monday is a day off for Slovenia, with today's schedule in Stožice Arena featuring matches between Russia and Finland, and between Belarus and North Macedonia.
Slovenia will play North Macedonia on Tuesday before wrapping up the group play against Russia on Wednesday, the match which is likely to determine the winner of the group. The top four teams will advance to the round of 16, which starts on 21 September.