In the first match of SEHA Saturday Motor Zaporozhye defeated Nexe at home with 36:30 clinching regular season top spot in Group B. In what was an important match for both teams Motor managed to deliver yet another strong performance, after their win over Meshkov Brest in the first leg of EHF Champions League round of 16, finishing regular season above Nexe, Vojvodina as well as five-time champions Vardar 1961.

Guests opened the match better slowly opening the gap all the way to +5 (5:10) little less than 15 minutes into the encounter. Croatian vice-champions were able to hold on to their lead until final ten minutes of the first when Motor started playing better on both defense and offense slowly closing the gap and eventually closing it through Taras Minotskyi at 15:15. After the first half guests were one goal ahead (15:16) but it was clear Motor have, in the final third of the first, managed to catch the right rhythm in this one.

Ukrainians opened the second half in a much better way. Backs Dmytro Horiha and Taras Minotskyi were leading their offense as they were slowly opening the gap against guys from Slavonia who simply weren’t able to cope with their tempo. Ivan Maroz grabbed 15 saves helping his team seal the deal in this one once they entered final ten minutes of the encounter with a five-goal advantage (30:25).

In the end 36:30 for Motor which was in this one led by Oleksandr Kasai and Taras Minotskyi who finished the match with six each. Janko Kevic on the other side netted six for Nexe while Zivan Pesic and Gianfranco Pribetic added five each.