In addition to qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where he will defend the bronze medal achieved four years ago, Argentina entered the top eight of the VNL, but this Friday they said goodbye in the quarterfinals of the competition by falling to the number one in the regular phase. Those led by Marcelo Méndez lost to Slovenia in tie breaka rival with whom they had also fallen in the third week of the contest.
The score of 25-19, 17-25, 25-17, 27-29, 7-15 sealed the result and marked the farewell of Argentina, which will now focus on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Bruno Lima was the albiceleste’s top scorer , with 26 points.
In the first set, Argentina showed a high level of play, with good distribution by De Cecco to win 25-19. However, in the second set, Slovenia made a significant difference and relied on Stern to dominate and win 25-17.
In the third set, Argentina again had a great start, this time with good moments from Conte, to pull away on the scoreboard and maintain its 15-10 lead. Good in attack and serve, the Albiceleste team continued to have the upper hand for 20-13 and won 25-17 after a block from Ramos.
In the fourth set, Slovenia started to hit the ground running with good counterattack work, but the Argentine block and Lima’s work in attack made the team led by Marcelo Méndez turn it around 11-9. Later, Slovenia came out of that moment of crisis and hurt with their serve and block to make it 18-16. Stern was again a key piece for the 24-22 but two blocks in a row gave the Argentine team hope to give suspense to the end of the set. Finally, an ace by Stern gave the partial to Slovenia 29-27.
In it tie break, The Europeans took advantage of the momentum from the previous set and showed great level in serve and counterattack to make it 7-3. Later, Slovenia deepened its dominance with good blocking work to head towards a 12-6 victory and a 15-7 win.
With the closing of the VNL for Argentina, the team will focus on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where those led by Marcelo Méndez defend the bronze achieved in Tokyo 2020.
