Mlynarcik attempts a block against a Portuguese spike
Poprad, Slovakia, June 4, 2017 – With
Peter Mlynarcik making the biggest point contribution to Slovakia’s success, his team rounded off the FIVB Volleyball World League tournament at home in Poprad with a third win – 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-19) against Portugal. The President of the Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska attended the game.
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Slovakia’s head-to-head World League record against Portugal now stands at 2-0. Only, the first time they met last year it was a five-set battle, unlike the shutout mastered on this 2017 Sunday afternoon.
The Slovaks started very well to an early 7-3 lead. At the second technical time-out the gap was still four points wide, before the home team closed the first set at 25-20.
Portugal took a 5-2 lead with another ace by Alexandre Ferreira. But Slovakia came closer and closer and Peter Mlynarcik eventually gave his team the advantage at 10-9. This set was very close. Both teams had very good side-out. Then Slovakia made a break and after a nice block by
Milan Bencz went 21-18 ahead. Portugal came back and levelled the score at 23-23, but
Marcel Lux finished the set off with a kill block or 25-23.
Slovakia started well in the third set. They served, blocked and attacked very well and when
Emanuel Kohut made a successful block the score went up to 12-9. In the noisy atmosphere created by the fans on the stand, the home team continued to play well. Setter
Juraj Zatko put his team into a 15-10 lead with another kill block. Eventually Slovakia won the last set by 25-19 and finished the tournament with a perfect record.