SLOVENIA ended the playoff hopes of The Netherlands yesterday with a 25-20, 32-30, 25-22 victory at the Mall of Asia Arena and secured a slot in the Volleyball Nations League men’s final in Poland on July 19-24.
Tine Urnaut and Klemen Cebulj combined to power the Slovenians to victory on the final day of Week 3 of the VNL leg in the country and finished seventh overall with an 8-4 card.
Urnaut had 14 points on attacks and two aces while Cebulj had four blocks and eight hits and an ace for 13 points as Slovenia
went 2-2 in the final and crucial preliminary leg here, bowing to Poland and Italy before notching a much-needed victory over China.
“It’s an important moment for us. It’s an important game so we’re happy to show what we expect from each other. We played as a team and we’d like to keep it moving forward,” said Cebulj, who sparked Slovenia’s comeback in the second set.
Earlier, Canada scored a 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18 victory over China to dodge possible relegation.
After dropping the first set, the Canadians won the next three frames to avoid last-place complications and maintain a spot in the VNL featuring the top-ranked squads in the world.
It’s the first but the biggest win for world No. 16 Canada in the Philippine leg of the VNL, organized by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the Volleyball World with Ganten, Gerflor, Mikasa, Mizuno, Senoh and Stake.com as global sponsors.
Canada, after bowing to Poland, Italy and the Netherlands, finished its campaign at 3-9 to break free from the jampacked bottom half of the pack featuring Iran (2-9), Bulgaria (2-9), Cuba (2-9) and China (2-10) in a rumble for VNL retention.
Only the eight teams will qualify for the final round of the VNL, with the lowest-ranked squad in the 16-team cast being demoted to the Volleyball Challenger Cup, whose winner gains VNL promotion.
Slovenia controlled the opening set but the Netherlands, with its back against the wall, refused to go down without a fight.
Top spiker Nimir Abdel-Aziz broke out of a slump, anchoring the Dutch spikers’ answer in the second set as his fiery hit pushed them to set point at 24-23 for a potential 1-1 slate.
But Cebulj had other things in mind, drilling in a hammer in the ensuing play to force a deuce and pave the way for an extended duel.
Slovenia trailed at 29-30 before a 3-0 run highlighted by Alen Pajenk’s block on Abdel-Aziz sealed a 32-30 win that led to the team’s breakaway in the clinching third set.
