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A derby between neighbours opened the fourth day of EuroVolley action at Modena’s Palapanini, but there was little doubt about who would leave happier.
Czechia produced one of their most convincing performances of the tournament to sweep cousins Slovakia 3–0 (25:21, 25:14, 25:20), collecting their third victory and, with it, a place in the knockout stage alongside hosts Italy. Slovakia, meanwhile, will have to wait for their next opportunity after failing to build on the encouraging performance against Italy on Sunday.
The two neighbours know each other well. They had already met twice in friendly matches earlier this summer, adding another layer to a derby in which both sides arrived with plenty of motivation.
The opening set initially lived up to the occasion. Slovakia moved two points clear at 14–12 through Daniel Sellong, but Czechia quickly restored parity before Antonín Klímens changed the momentum from the service line. His run began with an ace and helped the Czechs move 22–18 ahead.
Slovakia tried to stay in the set, but Lukas Vašina was simply outstanding. The Czech outside hitter scored nine points in the opening set alone, attacking at an extraordinary 89% success rate. His contribution ultimately proved decisive as Czechia closed out the set 25–21.
If the first set was a battle, the second was anything but.
Matouš Drahonovský opened the Czech assault with back-to-back aces for an immediate 3–0 lead. Vašina then took over from the service line as Czechia extended the advantage to 11–3, leaving Slovakia struggling to cope with the precision and power coming from the other side of the net.
The gap continued to grow, reaching 16–5, and the statistics reflected Czechia’s dominance. They finished the set attacking at an astonishing 79%, while five aces kept Slovakia under constant pressure. The result was never in doubt: 25–14, and Czechia were one set away from the knockout stage.
Slovakia showed more resistance in the third, but Czechia never surrendered control. Indra, Vašina and Klímens continued to provide the firepower as the Czechs opened 9–4 and then 13–7.
Erik Gulak refused to let the derby disappear quietly. Six kills from the Slovak opposite, supported by Andrej Billich, helped Slovakia reduce the deficit to 20–17. But once again, Czechia were stronger when the pressure increased.
They closed the set 25–20 and completed the sweep.
Indra finished as the match’s leading scorer with 18 points, including 16 kills, one ace and one block, while attacking at an outstanding 84%. Vašina added 13 points, with 12 kills at 80% efficiency. For Slovakia, Gulak was the leading scorer with 13 points.
The victory also carried particular significance for Indra, who had been dealing with health problems during the previous two weeks.
“It’s a very important win for us. It gives us our place in the next round, but the most important thing for us was that we changed our approach in the third set. In the previous matches, the third set was really bad, so I’m happy that we kept our focus in the third set and earned this straight-set win. I’m very satisfied with my performance, and I’m also really happy that I could play this game because my health hasn’t been so good over the last two weeks. So I’m happy that I played and that we won, but now we need to focus on the next games,” he said.
For Slovakia captain Jakub Ihnat, the turning point came after a first set in which his team had been within touching distance: “The end of the first set was very tough for us. It was quite even, but in the end we lost, and I think that after this first set we locked down. We really turned off. The key word for our team should be ‘brave’ – we need to be brave and play bravely, but that didn’t really happen in the second and third sets. This is very disappointing for us because, as I said before, we have no star in the team and we have to play as a team. Today, it seemed like we had no energy, or I don’t know what happened. We have to take a look at this match and improve for the next games, which will be decisive.”
Czechia now have the luxury of looking beyond qualification. Their next challenge will be to turn this impressive performance into something even more valuable when the knockout stage arrives.
In the evening, and in what was one of the major upsets in the competition so far, Greece shocked Slovenia winning the game in four sets, 1-3 (18:25, 25:19, 23:25, 19:25).
Slovenia started with Rok Mozic and Tine Urnaut back in the line-up, but the rivals made a better start, taking a 5-2 lead after an ace from Athanasios Protopsaltis. Slovenia tried to reply, but the rivals continued to dictate the pace of the set and, led Dimitrios Mouchlias and Alexandros Raptis, who scored four points apiece in the opener, they gradually pulled away, extending their advantage to 18-11. Applying constant pressure from the service line and in attack, Greece never allowed Slovenia to recover and comfortably closed the opening set 25-18.
The second set started as a tight race, with Nik Mujanović leading Slovenia with seven points and Dimitrios Mouchlias, on the other side of the net, led Greece with six only in this set. A block from Jan Kozamernik on Raptis is worth the 13-11, but Greece responded quickly to keep the battle close. It was only later in the set that Slovenia managed to create the decisive advantage: a strong service run from Mujanović helped them move 18-15 ahead, before Tine Urnaut’s attack extended the lead to 22-16. Slovenia kept control through the closing rallies, with Mujanović delivering the decisive spike to seal the set 25-19 and level the match.
The fierce battle resumed at the beginning of the third set, with Slovenia briefly establishing a two-point advantage before Greece quickly responded against a favorite last-edition bronze medallist. An ace from Rok Možič put Slovenia 15-12 ahead, but Greece continued to play fearlessly, able to level at 18-18 thanks to Angelos Markou and Athanasios Protopsaltis. Možič, who scored seven points in the set, then stepped up again, first with a powerful spike and then an ace to put Slovenia 23-21 ahead again. Greece, however, refused to surrender: they levelled the score once again before two blocks and a decisive spike from Theodoros Voulkidis turned the set in their favour, with Greece closing it out 25-23 to move within one set of sensational victory.
In fourth set, Greece took an early 5–1 lead, but Slovenia quickly turned things around thanks to a service run from Nejc Najdič, with Slovenia jumping ahead 7–5. Greece responded immediately, with powerful spikes from Angelos Markou helping regain the lead at 10–9. Markou, who entered the match as a substitute in the third set, stayed on court to start the fourth in the starting six, and his impact is decisive with his attack, followed by blocks from Voulkidis and Raptis, which helped Greece build a significant 18–14 advantage – the decisive one.
Markou scored eight points in the set, but it was Alexandros Raptis who had the honour of sealing Greece’s historic victory at 25–20.
Dimitrios Mouchlias led Greece’s scoring with 12 points, while Angelos Markou added 10 after taking over from Mouchlias in the fourth set. Raptis contributed 11 points. For Slovenia, Nik Mujanović was the most prolific player with 20 points.
“It was a very important game. We really wanted to win it because we had lost our two previous matches here. We started a bit nervous, but then we gave all our heart in the game, we won, and we are very happy about this. We have to keep going like this to win the next matches as well. In these kinds of games against strong teams, energy is the decisive factor. We gave all our energy and we won,” said Angelos Markou after the game.
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🏐| CEV Enel EuroVolley 2026 | Monday, September 14, 2026
👉🏼POOL A📍PalaPanini Modena
• 16.00 (Local Time) | Slovakia – Czech Republic 0-3 (21:25, 14:25, 20:25)
• 21.00 (Local Time) | Slovenia – Greece 1-3 (18:25, 25:19, 23:25, 19:25)
🏐| POOL A STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Italy 9
2. Czech Republic 8
3. Slovenia 6
4. Greece 3
5. Sweden 1
6. Slovakia 0
POOL B📍Arena 8888 Sofia
• 16.00 (Local Time) | Ukraine – Portugal 3-0 (25:18, 25:18, 25:19)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
• 19.00 (Local Time) | Bulgaria – Israel 3-1 (23:25, 25:22, 25:15, 25:20)
📸| PHOTOGALLERY OF THE MATCH
🏐| POOL B STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Ukraine 12
2. Poland 9
3. Bulgaria 9
4. Israel 2
5. Portugal 1
6. North Macedonia 0
POOL C📍Nokia Arena Tampere
• 17.00 (Local Time) | Serbia – The Netherlands 3-2 (20:25, 23:25, 30:28, 25:15, 17:15)
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Estonia – Belgium 1-3 (17:25, 25:18, 21:25, 14:25)
🏐| POOL C STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Finland 8
2. Belgium 7
3. Denmark 6
4. Serbia 5
5. Netherlands 0
6. Estonia 0
POOL D📍 BT Arena Cluj Napoca
• 17.00 (Local Time) | Germany – Switzerland 3-1 (25:19, 25:17, 22:25, 25:21)
• 20.00 (Local Time) | Romania – Türkiye 3-1 (25:19, 25:21, 20:25, 25:18)
🏐| POOL D STANDINGS (updated on this day)
1. Germany 11
2. France 9
3. Romania 7
4. Latvia 3
5. Türkiye 3
6. Switzerland 0
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NEXT GAMES: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
POOL A📍PalaPanini Modena
• 16.00 (Local Time) | Greece – Sweden
• 21.05 (Local Time) | Czech Republic – Italy
POOL B📍Arena 8888 Sofia
• 16.00 (Local Time) | North Macedonia – Portugal
• 19.00 (Local Time) | Poland – Ukraine
POOL C📍Nokia Arena Tampere
• 17.00 (Local Time) | Belgium – Denmark
• 20.00 (Local Time) | The Netherlands – Finland
POOL D📍 BT Arena Cluj Napoca
• 17.00 (Local Time) | Latvia – Switzerland
• 20.00 (Local Time) | France – Germany
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