It took, of course, the entire team’s effort to persevere successfully through a match like that. Slovenia outplayed Poland mostly in attack, with 75 successful swings, against 65 for the opponents. Another three Slovenian players reached the double digits in scoring: outside Klemen Sen with 16 points, his 22-year-old cross-court teammate Rok Bracko with 11 and experienced middle blocker Jan Kozamernik with 12.
“The energy we showed today was incredible. There are very few games that I have experienced that had this much hype and heart put into it. We all fought so damn well. I am so proud of all of us to have been able to make this comeback!” concluded Mujanovic.
Indeed, in each of the three sets they won, the Slovenians managed to come back from at least a three-point deficit. In the tie-breaker, they were down 4-0 and, later on, 12-9, before denying a double match point for Poland to push the set it deep into overtime.
“It was an amazing match!” Slovenia’s Italian head coach Fabio Soli exclaimed. “At the beginning of this VNL we had a dream that was quite far from us. Yesterday we didn’t play at our level, but we had a meeting in the evening and we said that if we wanted to catch our dream, we had to start playing with heart and with all our energy, while yesterday I saw in the faces of our players something that I didn’t like. Today, I saw something different. Thanks to the guys, because they gave to all of us something that we want to see every time on the court: suffering, fighting… Nik did an amazing job. He is a special player. He hadn’t played as an opposite for a month and a half, but he did an amazing job… The team! The team did an amazing job! Each one of us gave everything to try to win this match… Congratulations also to the Polish team!”
