Slovenia swept Japan on the penultimate day of pool play at the 2021 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy on Tuesday to come within one victory of claiming a berth in the Final Four of the competition.
Slovenia outplayed the Asian powerhouses in straight sets 25-16, 25-16, 28-26 for 11th win with 31 points to move up to the third place in the top-flight competition, while Japan had 19 points from 7 wins against 7 losses to stay at the 8th position at the standings.
Toncek Stern and Tine Urnaul handed Slovenia 14 points apiece on the team’s winning efforts, while Kenta Takanashi led Japan with 13 points and Kunihiro Shimizu added 12.
Kunihiro Shimizu said at the virtual Mixed Zone: “Slovenia have a really strong serve – also we are aware that our reception was not good, so we struggled with high balls and we were not able to score. We also had some problems after being blocked as our defence didn’t work well. We have to analyse this match and improve our game ahead of tomorrow’s match.”
Tine Urnaut said: “I’m very happy about this victory, because Japan are always a tough opponent and it was visible in the third set. I’m happy that we came back even if we were maybe three or four times behind by 3 points, but the most important was that we stayed focused and we won. We are hoping that we can do our best tomorrow, winning the match and qualifying to the Final Four. The most important was mentality – not technical elements – our determination, motivation with which we played every point were the most important in this match.”
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