The penultimate, 17th round of the EPCG Women's Volleyball Super League was played over the past two days, with no significant changes in the standings. The leading four teams achieved victories, as did Mediteran, which secured sixth place ahead of the playoffs.
The round concluded with a match between the champions and returnees to the EPCG First League from the next season, Herceg Novi and Rudar. The Novi team achieved their 17th victory in less than 45 minutes of volleyball at SC "Igalo", 3:0 (25:13, 25:6, 25:8) in a match in which the Pljevlja team won almost half of its points from the mistakes of their rivals. The most efficient player in Marko Radusinović's team was again American Brooke Dexter, with 13 points, middle blocker Aleksandra Gligorić with nine, and Gordana Madžgalj, Davida Kata Hill and Brenda Graf each won eight. For Rudar, Brazilian Livia Bueno had nine points, and Zana Čakar, Magdalena Petrović, Nikoleta Čepić, Ivana Živković and Lena Doderović each won a point. Rudar suffered its 17th defeat in a season in which it won only three sets.
The first match of the round was played in Bar, where Luka Bar, like a champion, easily defeated Budva 3:0 (25:21, 25:12, 25:9). The Budva team was in the game only in the first set, in which they were led by Đina Lekić and Elena Čolaković, but Vladimir Milačić's team was in the game for everything. Captain Dijana Vuković was the most efficient with 17 points, Aleksandra Šćekić stood at 13, and Teodora Čavić won seven. In Budva, Lekić won eight points, and Čolaković won seven. Luka Bar thus secured second place before the play-offs, and Budva is calm in the fight for survival in the round before the end.
Buducnost also achieved the maximum victory, defeating Jedinstvo, in sets: 25:17, 25:21, 25:13 in the volleyball hour in Podgorica. Thus, in the last round, they will play directly for third place with the Albatros team. Luka Bogojević's team was led to victory by Dunja Ćupić and Dijana Crnojački with 10 points each, Sofija Duletić won nine, and on the other side, with six points each, Andrijana Merdović and Staša Bojović were the most efficient. Jedinstvo awaits a duel with Herceg Novi in the last round, so they will wait with special attention for the outcome of the Gimnazijalac - Morača match in which the Kotor team will play for the status of a super league player in the next season, just ahead of the Bijelopolje team - both teams are on a 4:13 score, with a better head-to-head record for Jedinstvo and a point more for the Bijelopolje team.
Albatros has been confident of the top 4 for a long time, and before the match with the team of Buducnost, to which it lost in November 3:1, it celebrated in the match with Morača with the same result. In the sports hall of the elementary school "Radojica Perović" the sets were 16:25, 25:20, 25:14, 25:17 for the guests, who played to the tune of Đurđa Nedeljković and Amina Music - both volleyball players of Albatros had 16 points each, 11 were added by Anđela Stojković, which canceled out the 19 points of Lara Jovović and 14 of Darja Popović. Albatros celebrated its 12th victory, one behind the team of Buducnost.
On Saturday evening, the game was also played in Budva, where Mediteran made the fight for survival difficult for Gimnazijalac. The host team celebrated in SC "Rea" 3:0 (25:15, 25:19, 25:12) and secured sixth place in the standings with one round left. Anastasija Kovačević was again in the scoring mood with 26 points, along with the captain of Mediteran, the young Mitra Gudelj was also in double figures with 11 points, and on the other side, Jelena Ćorović had 13 points.
The final round of the EPCG Super League is scheduled for the end of next week, and will feature Jedinstvo – Herceg Novi, Luka Bar – Rudar, Albatros – Buducnost, Gimnazijalac – Morača and Budva – Mediteran. Eight teams will advance to the quarter-finals of the playoffs, the ninth-placed team will play a play-off to fill the EPCG Super League with the finalist of the EPCG First League, and Rudar will be relegated.
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