Kovacevic plays setter, earns MVP in PlusLiga win

Circumstances forced Uros Kovacevic to play as a setter and he did well. The Serbian outside hitter was named Most Valuable Player in Thursday’s only match of the Polish PlusLiga after leading Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie to a thrilling away victory, their 14th win since the start of the season.

With both of Aluron’s playmakers, Argentina’s Maximiliano Cavanna and Portugal’s Miguel Tavares Rodrigues, unavailable for the game at Cuprum Lubin, Kovacevic had to refresh his setting skills that he had not used since his youth years. As he conducted his team’s attackers with great precision (most of the time) and chipped in with a couple of kill blocks, the Serbian star could not resist the temptation to do some hitting of his own and contributed six spiking points at a 55% success rate in attack.

Aluron dominated the first two sets, but then lost the third. Failing to take advantage of a five-point lead (23-18) in the fourth, they had to resort to a tie-breaker before celebrating with a 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 24-26, 15-11) victory. The visiting team scored a total of 11 serving aces. International stars Facundo Conte of Argentina and Dawid Konarski of Poland delivered three a piece, while Polish middle blocker Patryk Niemiec topped that with four.

Aluron improved to a 14-4 win-loss record and 37 points to stand third in the current PlusLiga table, behind leaders Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle (16-0, 46) and Jastrzebski Wegiel Jastrzebie-Zdroj (14-3, 43).

• For more information about Polish PlusLiga results, statistics, schedules and more, visit the official website.