The Montenegrin men's volleyball team lost to Finland 3:0 (25:18, 25:10, 25:23) in the last match of the tournament in Podgorica, and after four rounds of the CEV Golden European League remained with one point won. Finland confirmed all its quality and the fact that it is one of the main favorites for first place and the very end of the competition in Brno.
The first part of the match in the sports hall of the "Verde" complex was played with a changeable game by our national team, which could have left a better impression, but made too many mistakes. Coach Jevtić called a timeout early, but the break was more to the liking of the Finns. They scored a few more points, rounded off the series 5:0 and took a 12:6 lead. Our guys were shaken up by good serves from Vasilije Milenković, melted the deficit to three points, then with an ace from Đurović they reached 14:13, but that was all. Finland, despite the persistent defense of Montenegro, showed that it is among the teams that do not know defeat for a reason. Numerous mistakes by our team in attack followed, the deficit grew to nine points, and Finland took the lead with 25:18.
The good start of the second set did not indicate that our volleyball players would win only 10 points in it. Finland gained a three-point lead early, 7:4, which our team managed to reduce to 6:7, but by the end of the set they won only four more points, making mistakes in the attack again. The guest team took a 2:0 lead with a convincing 25:10.
Our boys made up for the poor performance in the second set with a good resistance in the final third of the match, in which they played their best game. Finland was in the lead the whole time, with a maximum of +7, 17:10, which the Montenegrin volleyball players managed to overcome and catch up with their rivals at 21:21. After the Finnish coach called a timeout, the guests' block worked, and they got two match points, but Montenegro did not give up easily and finished the match with 23 points.
"Two sets went easily in Finland's favor, in the third set we showed more energy and responsibility towards the game and towards ourselves. We managed to lose a set by a margin. I think we need one set to show that we can play against teams like this, which are ahead of us in terms of quality, and also to see how those teams behave when a weaker team takes a set from them. I think that would help us a lot in the future. We have seven days left until the new tournament - I hope that we will manage to eliminate our shortcomings that we had, and also to prepare for the matches that are coming up in North Macedonia," said coach Ivica Jevtić after the match.
Once again, the only double-digit scorer on our team was captain Jovović, with 10 points, Peruničić scored nine, who got more minutes in the third set, and Hadžisalihović scored seven points. Finland was led to victory by Noa and Luka Martila with 12 points each.
After the final preparations in Podgorica, the young Montenegrin team awaits the trip to North Macedonia, where they will participate in the final tournament of the CEV Golden European League in Strumica, where they will face, in addition to the host team (June 22), the Israeli team (June 21). In the final matches, they will seek their first victory in the fight for survival in the Golden League.
The final tournament, which will feature the three best teams from the joint standings, along with the host Czech Republic, in Brno, will be played on July 5th and 6th.
MONTENEGRO – FINLAND 0:3 (18:25, 10:25, 23:25)
Podgorica: SC “Verde”. Attendance: 130. Referees: Bernard Valentar (Slovenia), Slobodan Kovačević (Montenegro).
Montenegro: Dubak, Ćinćur 3, Peruničić 9, Hadžisalihović 7, M. Joksimović 1, A. Joksimović (libero), V. Milenković 3, R. Milenković, Lečić, Lojić 1, Jovović 10, Rovčanin, Đurović 3, Radević (libero).
Coach: Ivica Jevtic.
Finland: Ronkainen (libero), Ivanov 6, Tinisma 10, Valima, L. Martila 12, Hapaniemi 5, Jokela 6, Heiskanen, Pozo Ernendes, Savonsalmi 1, Raspinpera (libero), Lindkvist 1, N. Martila 12, Kaunisto.
Selector: Oli Kunari.
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