Partizan Efbet BEOGRAD are the winners of the 2022/2023 Banka Poštanska Štedionica Superliga and as such, the newly crowned men’s Serbian national champions. On Tuesday night, in Novi Sad, in the third match of the championship series, Partizan Efbet defeated Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-16), thus finishing the playoffs after three matches only.
Djula Mester, President of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia, presented the winners’ trophy to Milija Mrdak, team captain of Partizan Efbet. Ivan Knežević, Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia, handed over the consolation trophy intended for the runners-up of the competition to Petar Krsmanović, team captain of Vojvodina.
“Right from the start we took it match by match, and we did not think too much ahead. We started the season by winning the Supercup trophy, and it was fine, but then we won the Serbian Cup, and everybody said good, but the biggest one is yet to come. In this championship series, after winning the first two matches, we came to Novi Sad to play our game. In the first set we were a bit nervous, and it was normal, but after that we played our recognisable Volleyball and won the third trophy of the season. I wish this season would never end. We had a fantastic atmosphere, the guys were great, it was a memorable feeling for everyone in the club,” said Bojan Janić, head coach of Partizan Efbet.
“This was not unexpected. Partizan played well throughout the whole season. I must admit that they were better than us, even in the series of three out of five matches. They kept their composure and patience. We played a good match tonight, we had our chances in all matches, but in the end, Partizan found the way to beat us. Congratulations to them,” said Slobodan Boškan, head coach of Vojvodina.
Milija Mrdak, team captain and opposite hitter of Partizan Efbet, was named the best player (MVP) of the 2022/2023 Banka Poštanska Štedionica Superliga play-off finals.
Vesna Nikić, director of the Novi Sad branch of Banka Poštanska Štedionica (Postal Savings Bank), the general sponsor of volleyball leagues in Serbia, presented Milija Mrdak with a € 500 check intended for the best player of the championship series. Danilo Mrdja, Competitions Director, presented Mrdak with the MVP trophy.
“This is a great feeling. Without this final victory the season would not be complete, even though we previously won two trophies. We fought very hard, we were excellent when it was most needed and we wanted this so bad, so congratulations to my team.”
Milija Mrdak
MVP and tem captain of Partizan Efbet BEOGRAD