Slovenia started their second week of the men’s Volleyball Nations League 2023 with a victory over Argentina in a Pool 3 game in Orleans on Tuesday to improve to a 4-1 win-loss record and 12 points in third place of the current standings. The South Americans are fifth on 3-2 and nine.
VNL 2023
Cebulj fuels Slovenia to fourth VNL win
Japan continue unbeaten run to fifth victory in a row
Published 05:02, 20 Jun 2023
Klemen Cebulj in attack
- Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 live on VBTV
Slovenia’s striker Klemen Cebulj was on fire to contribute 17 points to his team’s success, including his first three aces of the tournament, in addition to a couple of kill blocks. Rok Mozic added another 16 points, while captain Tine Urnaut finished with 12. On Argentina’s side, Luciano Palonsky led the scorers with 17 points, followed by Bruno Lima with 16 (including the team’s only two aces) and middle blocker Agustin Loser with 11.
The first set offered quite an even battle between the two teams, but Argentina never allowed Slovenia to step in front on the scoreboard. In addition to some extra errors from Slovenia, an ace from Bruno Lima and a monster block by Agustin Loser for the winning point were what made the difference towards a 25-21 set close Argentina’s way. In the second set, Slovenia stepped up their blocking and their serving efforts, but mostly capitalizing on opponent errors, gained control to level the match score after a 25-21 win.
The European team continued to outserve and outblock the South Americans during the third set, but led by Luciano Palonsky, the Argentineans were more productive in attack. The score swung from four points Argentina’s way at 11-7 to five points Slovenia’s way at 20-15. Klemen Cebulj and his teammates kept pace to claim the set at another 25-21 final score. Things did not change much for the fourth set either. After 4-4, Slovenia took control of the scoreboard for good until Cebulj’s powerful block-out shot closed the match at yet another 25-21.
Luciano Palonsky spikes
“For us it is very important to start in a good mood,” said Klemen Cebulj after the match. “The Argentineans are a very good team. They have a lot of good players who can come inside and they showed it today. But we were concentrated. Only in the beginning, in the first set, we were in a little bit of trouble, but we grew up, kept our concentration high for the rest of the match and won the game.”
On Wednesday at 16:30 local time (14:30 UTC), Slovenia will take on Canada, while Argentina’s next match is later that day, at 21:00 (19:00) against hosts and defending champions France.
Yuki Ishikawa in flight
In the first match of the Orleans tournament earlier on Tuesday, table leaders Japan stayed unbeaten in the competition hammering out their fifth consecutive win, a over Canada, and leaving the North Americans bottom of the standings on a 1-4 win-loss record and two points. Japan’s outside hitter and captain Yuki Ishikawa produced the match high of 23 points, including three aces and a block.
The first day’s programme in Orleans will finish with a game between Brazil and Bulgaria, starting at 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC).
