Advantage for Partizan and Valis in Playoffs from Fifth to Eighth Place
The water polo teams of Partizan and Valis have taken the lead against their opponents in the semifinal series of the playoffs for places from fifth to eighth. Partizan defeated Stari Grad after an exciting match with a score of 10:9, while Valis, after an equal battle in the first three quarters, played better in the last eight minutes and with a series of goals achieved a convincing triumph against NBG Vukovi (16:11).
This season, Stari Grad played at a very high level, having achieved a perfect 16 wins in Group B of the Regional A1 League, only to "fall" in the group from first to fourth place and finish the competition in third place, just ahead of Partizan. The team from Dorćol had defeated the black and whites twice this season, first 11:7, and then 12:8.
However, in the final stages of the domestic championship, Partizan got its revenge after a tough battle. The equal fight lasted for most of the match, with a score of 5:5 at halftime, but Partizan entered the final quarter with a two-goal lead (8:6) and ended up winning all three points. Miljan Đokanović stood out with three goals, while Maltese Džajden Kutajar added two. For the more experienced Stari Grad, Nikola Bursać shined with three goals, while Nikola Nikolov added two goals.
The match in Valjevo was equally tense, but only until the beginning of the final quarter. The Vukovi were leading against Valis (8:7) at halftime, with a score of 9:9 before the start of the final period, but then the Valjevci unleashed and scored seven goals in eight minutes to secure a convincing victory. Čabrilo, Kojić, Tubić, Stanić, Burburan, and Virijević each scored twice, while Gak and Vujković scored one more goal each for the guests, with Bućan and Ćorić adding two goals each.
Playoffs for Places Fifth to Eighth, First Match
Stari Grad – Partizan 9:10 (2:3, 3:2, 1:3, 3:2)
Stari Grad: Vlahović, Bursać 3, Vitorović, Marković 1, Subotić 1, Karalić, Marković 1, Nešić, Milosavljević, Goga, Nikolov 2, Asanović 1, Rajević.
Partizan: Dimković, K. Bodiroga, Ilić, Čonkić, V. Bodiroga, Anđelić 1, Kutajar 2, Đokanović 3, Janošević, Jauković 1, Ilić 1, Radulović 1, Stepanović, Nešković 1.
Valis Vega – NBG Vukovi 16:11 (4:4, 3:4, 2:1, 7:2)
Valis Vega: Stojilković, Čabrilo 2, Dončić 1, Aleksandrov 1, Knežević, Kojić 2, Evdokušin, Gavrilović, Tubić 2, Baucalo 1, Stanić 2, Burburan 2, Virijević 2, Poznanović 1.
NBG Vukovi: Nekredin, Radović, Konatar, Grbović, Gak 3, Bućan 2, Gogov 1, Henrih, Ljubenović, Ćorić 2, Vujković 3, Peleš, Pajković, Aleksandrov.
