The Slovenian national team achieved an extremely important victory in the battle for a place in the Final Eight of the Nations League. Fabio Soli's team defeated Germany 3:1 (25:17, 25:17, 23:25, 28:26) in Belgrade and recorded their seventh success in nine matches.
With this result, the Slovenians accumulated 17 points and climbed to second place in the temporary standings, with only undefeated Japan ahead of them, who earlier in the day defeated Italy 3:2. In practice, Slovenia is now just one step away from qualifying for the final tournament in Ningbo.
Fabio Soli's team played almost flawlessly in the first two sets, dominating in all elements. Germany managed to bring back the intrigue after winning the third set, and the fourth set offered a dramatic outcome. The Germans saved several match points, but in the end, the Slovenians closed the match 28:26.
Interestingly, Slovenia achieved the success without libero Jani Kovačič and opposite Tonček Štern, who missed the match due to minor injuries.
The most effective player for the winners was Mujanović with 29 points, while Možič added another 26. For Germany, Röhrs finished with 22 points, and Brand scored 11.
The statistics were also clearly in favor of the Slovenians. They finished with an advantage in attack (56:54), block (10:4), and especially in service, where they scored an impressive 10 aces against only 2 for the Germans. The two teams exchanged 25 points each after opponent errors.
The success also brought Slovenia 4.15 points for the world ranking list, with which the team solidified its sixth place. Germany lost 4.15 points but remained in 11th position.
The Slovenians now have a record of 7 wins and 17 points, which puts them in an excellent position before the remaining three matches of the preliminary phase. After a day of rest, they will face Iran on Friday, and with one more victory, they will practically seal their participation in the Final Eight of the Nations League.

photo:volleyballworld.com