Last weekend, Vipers Kristiansand ended their six-match winning run in the group phase of the DELO EHF Champions League 2021/22 with a 31:25 defeat against Metz Handball, but the title holders are now back on track after 15 saves from Katrine Lunde powered them to a 37:20 win against Krim Mercator Ljubljana.
GROUP B
Vipers Kristiansand (NOR) vs Krim Mercator Ljubljana (SLO) 37:20 (17:9)
- Vipers won much easier than in the reverse fixture in round 6, when they earned a narrow 27:26 victory
- the home team used a 6:0 run between the 11th and 20th minutes to pull clear at 12:5, and they had an eight-goal advantage at half-time
- Katarina Krpez-Slezak scored six of Krim's nine goals in the first half, and she ended the match as its top scorer with eight goals
- Katrine Lunde stopped 15 of 30 shots, while her teammate Ragnhild Dahl became Vipers' best scorer with seven goals
- the Norwegian team boasted a 71 per cent shot efficiency, much higher than Krim's 44 per cent
Vipers and Krim remain in respective battles
Thanks to their victory, Vipers provisionally climbed to second place in group B, and while Metz might leapfrog them later on Saturday when they host Odense, the Norwegian team will remain in the fight for a direct quarter-final spot until the last round.
Despite losing the match, Krim stay in sixth place, two points ahead of IK Sävehof, and regardless of how the Swedish team do against Györ on Sunday, the final play-off berth from this group will be decided in the direct duel between Krim and Sävehof next week.
