Mladost overcome slow start to secure ticket to #CLVolleyM Round 2

Mladost ZAGREB defeated Cyprus’ Kuutio Homes Pafiakos PAFOS 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-19) in the second leg of the CEV XTB Champions League Volley 2027 Men Round 1, following an exciting 105-minute encounter at the Bojan Stranić Volleyball Hall in Zagreb. The result was identical to their victory in Cyprus a week earlier. Mladost will now face Bulgarian side Levski SOFIA in the second qualifying round starting next week.

Mladost had to work hard to overcome the resistance of the determined visitors, only finding their rhythm in the second set. In the opening set, the team from Paphos held the lead for most of the time, before the hosts went on a 3-0 run to move ahead 18-16. Mladost still held a narrow 20-19 advantage, and the teams were tied at 21-21, but the Cypriots scored four consecutive points to claim the opening set.

The second set saw a much more aggressive performance from the home side. Mladost improved both their serving and serve reception, taking a 9-6 lead after a 4-0 scoring run. The hosts extended their advantage to 18-14 towards the end of the set, but the visitors fought back to level the score at 19-19. However, they were unable to complete the comeback, and Mladost secured the set 25-22.

The visitors’ game gradually began to fall apart, both defensively and offensively, while Mladost continued to raise the tempo. This resulted in a convincing 25-17 victory in the third set, highlighted by several outstanding finishing points from Ivan Zeljković, who was eventually named the match MVP. At one stage, Mladost held a commanding ten-point lead (16-6).

In the fourth set, Mladost were determined not to leave anything to chance and simply finished the job they had started midway through the second set. The Cypriots never managed to take the lead, with the score tied only once, at 2-2. The hosts comfortably closed out the set and the match 25-19, despite the visitors introducing fresh players from the bench. After overcoming their early nerves and reducing the numerous unforced errors that had gifted points to their opponents, Mladost demonstrated over the two matches that they were clearly the stronger team.

The official statistics confirmed Mladost’s superiority in blocking (12-7), attack points (56-48), serving (6-3) and serve reception (64% vs 53%), while the visitors committed fewer errors (22 compared to Mladost’s 25). Jan Pokeršnik was Mladost’s top scorer with 21 points, while Nikolaos Eleftheriou led the visitors with 15 points. Ivan Zeljković, who scored 17 points against the Cypriot side, was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the match.

“First of all, I would like to take my hat off to our captain, Tsimafei Zhukouski, who managed to play through an injury. He did the same in Cyprus and again today. We started the match very nervously and made too many mistakes. We were not ourselves, either in attack or on serve. As the match progressed, we gradually found our rhythm. We improved our serving, which then made it easier to defend. We are happy, but there is no time to rest. This weekend, we have a Croatian Superliga match in Varaždin, and next week we continue our Champions League qualifying campaign against Levski SOFIA. I hope everyone will be healthy by then and that we will have even greater support from our fans at the Volleyball Hall against the Bulgarian side,” said MVP Zeljković.

Borja Ruiz, the Cypriot team’s middle blocker, commented after the match: “Home-court advantage played its part. Mladost were the better team, showed more quality and deserved to win. We missed our opportunity in the first match in Pafos. This was a valuable experience for us.”