The Midseason Brings Out the Best of the Best – Hungarian Water Polo

The midseason rearranged the groups and the first battles made the opening day a pleasure to watch. In the upper stage, Ferencvaros was the only one to dominate their opponents, while other teams had close fights until the end of the matches.

Lower Stage

KSI, who still didn’t manage to get a single point, had a tight matched against Tatabanya. With the entire match being a rollercoaster of exchanging shots, KSI failed at the last quarter. Only one goal kept them from equalizing the score and taking their first point, but Tatabanya mastered the last minute.

PVSK played a great match against Kaposvari (7:4), and UVSE and AVUS played the only draw in both groups (9:9).

Upper Stage

The battle of the high-positioned teams began with a fierce match between Eger and Miskolc. After their defeat against Pro Recco, Norbert Dabrowski’s team went full-on against Miskolc in the Bitskey pool. But József Sike’s boys managed to hold up, even take the lead in the first half-time (3:5). After the break, Eger made some changes, inviting Rasovic and Vlachopoulous who each scored three goals by the end of the match. It was ultimately too much for Miskolc to handle.

Meanwhile, Ferencvaros – the defending champion – met up with Debrecen to achieve complete dominance. It took only a minute for them to start scoring furiously. One by one they netted the goals, ending the quarter with Marton Vamos setting it to 7:0. Without a pause, the series continued with 6:2 in the second quarter. Debrecen somewhat woke up in the second half-time, though it wasn’t nearly enough to turn the tables. The match ended with 22:6.

Like Eger, Szolnok celebrated as they defeated BVSC 12:9. Aleksic dominated on Szolnoki’s sides, while Béla Török managed to equalize the score in the third quarter (5:5). But Aleksic soon answered, gaining back the lead. No mistakes were made by the end of the match and Szolnok carried a clear victory.

After OSC’s failure to win against Jadran Carine in the Euro Cup, Lajos Vad’s boys recovered and won against Racionet. The match was pretty tight with both sides keeping a close, though not equal, score. Eventually, the fourth quarter came as a decisive one as OSC got a 3:0, setting the final score at 10:5.

Photo: Fehér Anna

Match Results

Lower Stage

Tatabánya v KSI 9-8 (2-1, 2-3, 3-1, 2-3)
Scorers: Hoppál 3, Szentesi 2, Kolozsi, Kuncz, Keresztúri, Máthé, ill. Bóbis 3, Turnai 2, Horváth Á., Schmölcz, Pető

UVSE v AVUS 9-9 (2-3, 1-3, 3-1, 3-2)
Scorers: Baksa 3, Vigvári 2, Korbács, Korényi, Konarik, Sziládi, ill. Basara 3, Takács J. 2, Ekler B. 2, Irmes P., Baj

PVSK v Kaposvari 7-4 (3-2, 1-2, 2-1, 1-0)
Scorers: Csacsovszky A. 2, Chilkó 2, Csacsovszky E., Csaba M., Rakonjac, ill. Berta 3, Juhász-Szelei

Upper Stage

Eger v Miskolci 11-10 (2-3, 1-2, 4-1, 4-4)
Scorers: Hosnyánszky 3, Rasovics 3, Vlachopoulos 3, Gyárfás, Avramovics, ill. Nagy Á. 4, Vadovics 2, Bowen 2, Misics, Stojanovics

Ferencvaros v Debreceni 22-6 (7-0, 6-2, 4-1, 5-3)
Scorers: Jansik Sz. 4, Sedlmayer 3, Kállay 3, Varga Dénes 3, Vámos 2, Jaksics 2, Német, Gór-Nagy, Younger, Varga Bence, Nikics, ill. Kovács G. 4, Dőry 2, Macsi M.

Szolnoki v BVSC 12-9 (4-2, 1-2, 3-2, 4-3)
Scorers: Aleksics 4, Rasovics 2, Angyal, Szatmári, Kis, Jansik D., ill. Pásztor 3, Létay 2, Csapó, Török, Sugár, Szabó B.

OSC v Racionet 10-5 (3-2, 2-2, 2-1, 3-0)
Scorers: Manhercz K. 2, Salamon 2, Burián 2, Kovács G., Bundschuh, Hárai, Brguljan, ill. Kiss B., Illés, Szirányi, Simon R., Simon A.

Standings

Lower Stage

1. PVSK 22
2. Szentesi 17
3. Tatabánya 16
4. UVSE 13
5. AVUS 11
6. Vasas 11
7. Kaposvari 7
8. KSI 0

Upper Stage

1. FTC 45
2. OSC 45
3. Eger 37
4. Szolnoki 36
5. Miskolci 30
6. BVSC 21
7. Racionet 20
8. Debreceni 18

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