One of the MOST DRAMATIC Matches in Volleyball History !!!

One of the MOST DRAMATIC Matches in Volleyball History !!! Two hours and 47 minutes – that’s how long it took Slovenia and the Netherlands to determine the winner in their Volleyball Nations League 2024 opener in Antalya on Wednesday. Despite an impressive 31-point match high from Dutch opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz, Slovenia squeezed out the victory in the end. In the second Pool 1 match of the day!

An epic five-set saga unfolded in the first Pool 1 match on Wednesday. After coming back from a set down twice in their duel with the Netherlands, deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker, Slovenia celebrated a 3-2 (31-33, 25-22, 20-25, 25-21, 27-25) victory over the Netherlands.

In a first set that was also pushed deep into overtime, Nimir was on fire and contributed as many as 12 points towards a 33-31 close the Netherlands’ way, while his Slovenian counterpart Toncek Stern produced eight. After Slovenia levelled the match by winning the second set, Nimir had another solid contribution in the third set, when he hammered three aces to help his team step in front again. Slovenia once again came from behind to push the match to five. The tie-breaker offered a long and nail-biting battle. With Nimir leading the way with five points, the Dutch prevailed in attack, as well as blocking, but also committed more unforced errors than the Slovenians. With the help of aces from Jan Kozamernik and Tine Urnaut during the set, Slovenia not only fought their way out of the three-point lag they had at 10-7 the Netherlands’ way, but also survived the overtime saga, when both sides denied numerous opponent’s match points before a precision ace from Stern ended it all at 27-25.

Toncek Stern and Klemen Cebulj shared the top scorer honours on Slovenia’s side, each contributing 21 points to the victory. They had 17 kills each in attack, with three aces and a kill block from Stern and three kill blocks and an ace from Cebulj. Urnaut and Kozamernik added 16 and 13 points, respectively. Nimir’s match-high of 31 points included as many as five aces and a block. His teammates Maarten Van Garderen and Thijs Ter Horst also reached the double digits with 17 and 14 points, respectively.