Slovenian volleyball players are already in the semifinals of the European League
The Slovenian women’s volleyball team defeated Croatia 3:0 (22, 21, 24) in the first match of the third European League tournament in Skopje.
June 20, 2026, 9:44 p.m
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The Slovenian women’s volleyball team already secured an appearance in the semi-finals of the European League a round before the end of the last tournament in Skopje. In her fifth game, she won for the fifth time with the maximum result, this time she was better than Croatia with 3:0.
With this, they took the lead in the league and, regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s last game against home country North Macedonia, they will finish the regular part of the competition in at least fourth place.
Before Saturday’s matches, five national teams had a complete win, and only Slovenia and Sweden did not lose a single set. This time, the Swedes lost against Austria, and the first defeat was recorded by the Spaniards, who had to admit the superiority of the Finns with a score of 0:3.
After Spain’s defeat, the Slovenes were given the opportunity to secure a semi-final with a win against Croatia and thus the opportunity to play in the League of Nations for next year. Alessandro Orefice’s protégés also took advantage of it. They did not have an easy job against the old brands, but they were a shade better in all sets and justified their role as favorites with a reliable victory.
The match was even from start to finish. In the first set, the two teams traded points in the lead until the score was 16:16, and then the Slovenian women took a nice lead with a partial score of 7:2. They were satisfied with it a little too quickly, allowing the Croatians four consecutive points, but they rallied in time and took a 1:0 lead with two points.
The even fight continued at the beginning of the second set, but this time the Slovenian women came to a decisive advantage a little earlier than in the first set. After the score was 10:10, they scored four consecutive points, and the difference of four points was also at the end.
Even for most of the third set, the Slovenian women had a slight advantage, the Croatians canceled the advantage in the playoff, leading with 23:22, but the Slovenian women, led by the cheerful Lorena Lorber Fijok and the excellent blockers Niko Milošič and Saša Planinšec, did not allow them any more.
Lorber Fijok scored 15 points, Maša Pucelj added 13, and Milošič and Planinšec had ten each, the former adding five and the latter three blocks. The Slovenian reception was also reliable, perhaps only lacking some aggression in the opening shots.
