The Budva Riviera volleyball players routinely defended the cup

The story in the final, in front of barely 100 witnesses in the Mediterranean Center (not counting the TV auditorium), lasted only 65 minutes - Budva Riviera "cleaned up" Budućnost 3:0 in three sets and won the cup for the fourth time in a row in independent Montenegro. I'm buying.

The Budva team has now formally taken over the primacy in the Cup, as they have won more cups than the Podgorica team in seven mutual finals, and coach Siniša Reljić won the first trophy on the bench of the Budva team.

Finally, counting the championship titles, Riviera has won its eighth consecutive trophy on the domestic stage since April 10, 2009, when it won the first title. Based on what was seen in this final, but in the league part of the championship (4-0 score in victories against Buducnosti), it would be a real miracle if he did not win the ninth...

The fact that Reljić did not have to make any substitutions or take a time-out tells how the champion played. Quality and experience are definitely on the side of the "master from the sea", and it seems that they have also "tweaked" the form at the right time.

Thanks to the return of Milan Marković and the recovery (admittedly not yet complete) of Luka Šuljagić, they now have more options in the game, and better training. In addition, Vojin Ćaćić is a guarantee (81 percent success rate in attack), libero Rašović, in addition to safe reception, left over XNUMX "live" balls in defense. Božidar Ćuk held up well at the reception as he was the opponent's first option on the service, technician Marko Vujović must have conducted the "Budva orchestra"...

On the other hand, nothing went right for Zoran Vukčević's team, they didn't look like a team that played very well in the Balkan League (they lost first place only in the last of 12 matches), in fact against weaker opponents than the Budva Riviera.

With a very weak service reception, only one ace point, only three points on the block (Blažo Milić himself had a block more in Riviera), the people of Podgorica would not be able to match even a weaker rival...

In the first set, Budućnost was in the game until 6:5, and then Budva went to 9:5 (Ćaćić from the first attack, and blocks from Vujović and Ćaćić), and at the second technical time-out it was 16:11, when set and broken.

The second set was the most interesting, the visitors were often in the lead until 13:12, no more than two points difference, but Budva turned it around at 18:15.

With two consecutive points, Budućnost came back into the game, and had three counters in the same point to equalize, but Irfan Hamzagić shot the last one into the out on the parallel. That probably represented the end of the story, because Budva took the lead 22:17 with three more consecutive points and secured the second set as well.

The third set was already decided at the beginning, when Riviera took the lead 11:4...

Lazar Rađenović presented the medals to the players and coaching staff, as well as the championship cup to captain Milan Marković. Before the match, OSCG president Cvetko Pajković presented Vojin Ćacić with the award for the best volleyball player in 2012.

Statements

Siniša Reljić, coach of the Budva Riviera: We expected stronger resistance from Podgorica, but we played very well, we showed that we are a better team. I have to congratulate the boys, they respected everything we agreed before the game and won easily and convincingly. We played concentrated and disciplined, I think that the first set was decisive, and although there was some struggle in the second set, it was clear that we were better. In the third set, it was already on our side. I repeat, we played great.

Zoran Vukčević, coach of Budućnost: I congratulate Budva Riviera, I think we didn't make the Cup final the way it should have been. It is certain that we wanted and were able to do much more than we showed in this duel. The Budva Riviera has once again shown great quality, patience and experience. At the beginning of the sets, they built an advantage that they managed to keep until the end. We tried something, but tonight, we definitely weren't ready to put up much resistance, and especially to make a surprise. For the game against Budva Riviera, we need much better service reception.

Budva Riviera - Budućnost 3:0 (25:19, 25:19, 25:13)

Budva – Mediterranean sports center. Spectators: 100. Judges: Simonovska (Bar) and Beljkaš (Bar). Attack points: Budvanska Riviera 38, Budućnost 28. Block points: Budvanska Riviera 9, Budućnost 3. Service points: Budvanska Riviera 6, Budućnost 1. Fouls: Budvanska Riviera 19, Budućnost 22.

Budva Riviera: Ćaćić 15, Papović, Ćuk 9, Rašović (libero), Radonić, Vujović 3, Milić 7, Šuljagić 15, Maksimović, Marković 4.

Future: Vukašinović 4, Babić, Medojević (libero), Vidić, Bošković 1, Radulović, Ječmenica 5, Đuranović 4, Hamzagić 11, Bojić 5, Radović, Strugar 2.