An extremely interesting 13th round of the EPCG Super League, ahead of the winter break in the championship. The round was marked by a big win for Albatros in the derby with Luka Bar, a triumph for Buducnost after a marathon with Morača, and secure victories for Herceg Novi, Gimnazijalac and Budva.
The derby round brought one of the biggest surprises in the first part of the championship – Albatros beat Luka Bar 3:0 (25:21, 25:22, 25:16) and thus caught up with the Super Cup winner with a record of 10 wins and three losses. In a great evening for Branka Obradović's team, Amina Musić stood out again with 14 points, while Dženaj Varga and Anđela Stojković scored 11 each. On the other side, Dijana Vuković was the only one in double figures with 18 points.
The second derby of the weekend was truly a derby, and it went to Buducnost, who after almost two hours of play celebrated a 3:2 victory over Morača away from home (25:22, 30:28, 22:25, 24:26, 15:7). Luka Bogojević's team resolved a phenomenal match with small margins with a convincing game in the fifth set, which they won despite having a 2:0 lead in sets. Dijana Crnojački had an impressive game with 36 points, while Mileva Magdelinić and Lana Rakočević each won 12, while young Klara Đukić scored double figures with 10 points. On the other side, Lara Jovović and Darja Popović were fantastic with 27 points each. A great victory for Buducnost before the continuation of the competition in the MEVZA league and a great game by Morača, which once again showed that they are a team that can upset the favorites.
Herceg Novi justified its role as the favorite in Budva without too much trouble. The first set indicated that it was motivated to arrive at SC "Rea", where it defeated Mediteran 3:0 (25:4, 25:18, 25:17) and remained perfect after 13 rounds. Valentina Peres led the champions with 13 points, while Gordana Madžgalj and Brenda Graf each scored 10. Once again, the main attacking force of Mediteran was Anastasija Kovačević, who scored 16 points, and Sara Jovović had nine.
A significant victory, also with the maximum score, was achieved by the Gimnazijalac team, which beat Jedinstvo at home 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:20). Although it constantly put pressure on its rival, Jedinstvo could not reach the set in Kotor, in which Gimnazijalac had three top scorers – Ksenija Simun with 14 and Jelena Ćorović and Matea Kovačec with 13 points each. In the ranks of Jedinstvo, Marija Tuševljak scored 10 points, while Andrijana Merdović and Maša Milošević scored nine each.
Budva made a mini-series of victories and returned above Gimnazijalac, with a game against Jedinstvo behind. They were better than Rudar 3:0 (28:26, 25:10, 28:26) in a match that had an interesting beginning and end. Although it was on the verge of the first set of the season, Rudar did not manage to get there – Budva achieved its fourth victory of the season. It achieved it with great team play – the host had four volleyball players in double figures, and all the girls who played won at least a point. The most efficient was Đina Lekić with 19 points, Elena Čolaković won 16, and Bojana Krasnići and Jana Mrdak won 10 each. For Rudar, Zana Čakar and Dubravka Vraneš had 11 points each.
Bonus video:
