Slovenian volleyball team crush North Macedonia to complete perfect run

The Slovenian women’s volleyball national team played its final match of the European League group stage in Skopje against North Macedonia.

The match between Slovenia and the 42nd-ranked team in Europe at the Boris Trajkovski Hall ended in a comfortable victory for the Slovenian players, who celebrated their sixth consecutive win without dropping a single set.

Slovenia had already secured a place in the final four before the match. They won the first set 25–15, the second 25–13, and the third 25–11, CE Report quotes STA.

The Slovenian women’s national team successfully completed their final task in the European League group stage. At the third tournament in Skopje, they also defeated North Macedonia after beating Croatia, again with a 3–0 victory (25–15, 25–10, 25–10). With that, they finished the group stage with six wins and no sets lost, securing first place. Sweden, Hungary, and Slovakia also completed the competition unbeaten; Sweden and Hungary dropped one set, while Slovakia lost two, finishing in fourth place and setting up a semifinal clash with Slovenia.

Both the semifinals and finals will be played over two legs, home and away. Although Slovenia had already secured a semifinal spot and was playing against the weakest team in the league, which had not won a single set in its previous five matches, head coach Alessandro Orefice did not want to leave anything to chance. He fielded the players who had carried the main workload throughout the competition, later also giving some reserves an opportunity.

The difference in quality was evident. The hosts were competitive only at the beginning of the opening set, even briefly leading 12–11. After that, Slovenia completely took control of the match and comfortably secured the expected victory.

For Slovenia, Lorena Lorber Fijok was once again the top scorer with 16 points, while Fatoumatta Sillah added 12 points.

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