The Argentine volleyball team was very close to making a breakthrough in the Nations League but it couldn’t be. It was a five-set victory for Slovenia, the best in the regular phase, which survived a match ball loss, went to the semifinals and will face Japan this Saturday from 3 p.m.
The team led by Marcelo Méndez had managed to get into the top eight of the competition almost by chance, as eighth seed and thanks to a couple of results from other teams in the last round. But this Friday, the team captained by Luciano De Cecco went out to play like the best in the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland, where the entire Final Eight is taking place.
With perhaps the best level shown so far this year, Argentina took the first set with a resounding 25 to 19, the product of a very high collective and also individual game. Slovenia rebounded in the second (25 to 17) but the National Team regained focus in the third and gave the Europeans their own medicine with another 25 to 17.
Argentina knew that it had to decide the game in the fourth, since a rival of Slovenia’s stature can wake up at any moment. And Méndez’s team had it within easy reach, with a match point (27-26) that could not be capitalized on. As a result, the fourth was 29-27 for the Slovenians, who showed all their power in the tiebreak and won by 15-7.
Bruno Lima from San Juan broke it with 26 points, followed by Luciano Palonsky with 18, Facundo Conte with 11 and Agustín Loser and Nico Zerba, both with 9. For Slovenia, the opposite Toncek Stern was unstoppable, with 31.
Thus, the National Team equaled its best performance in the League, achieved last year although with a heavier defeat in the quarterfinals (0-3 with Italy), and left a great image for the Olympic Games, where it will try to defend the bronze medal achieved in Tokyo, or even aspire to more.
The Nations League will continue this Saturday with the semis: from 12 with Slovenia vs. Japan (beat Canada 3-0) and at 15 with Poland (3-1 against Brazil) vs. France (3-2 to Italy). The final will be played on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. The three matches can be seen on the Star+ online platform.
2024-06-28 22:13:30
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