28/01/2015 23:59
Russia, Poland, Italy lead the way as teams for men’s Playoff round are determined
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Luxembourg, January 27, 2015. As many as 84 matches were played since early November when the 2015 edition of the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men got underway with 28 teams joining Europe’s premier competition. On Tuesday night, upon completion of another set of nail-biting games, the names of the 12 teams moving on to the Playoffs starting mid-February were determined. And actually there is an additional team that is set to continue its adventure as Italy’s Cucine Lube TREIA will replace in the Playoffs 12 the organiser of the Final Four tournament that is due to be announced on Thursday shortly before the start of the DOL for the knockout stage that is scheduled for 11:30am CET.
The teams that eventually topped the charts of the seven preliminary pools (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) are: Tomis CONSTANTA (ROU), Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK (RUS), Asseco Resovia RZESZOW (POL), Zenit KAZAN (RUS), Belogorie BELGOROD (RUS), PGE Skra BELCHATOW (POL) and Sir Safety PERUGIA (ITA). These are joined by the five second placed teams with the best score across all Pools: Halkbank ANKARA (TUR), BERLIN Recycling Volleys (GER), Copra Volley PIACENZA (ITA), JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel (POL), and VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (GER). One of these 12 teams will get the right and the honour to host the Final Four tournament scheduled for March 28-29, 2015, thereby moving straight to the semis, and that ‘vacancy’ will be filled up by Italy’s champions Cucine Lube TREIA who are therefore still in the race for the most coveted honour in European Volleyball as ‘lucky loser’.
Two of the teams mentioned above – Zenit KAZAN and PGE Skra BELCHATOW (pictured) – completed their duties in the League Round with an impeccable record of six wins in as many matches, with the Tatars being the only side that did not drop a set along the way to their qualification to the Playoffs. Russia, Poland and Italy – following TREIA’s status as ‘lucky loser’ – have three teams each in the knockout stage of the competition. The rookies of Sir Safety PERUGIA were able to seal their ticket even with one round still to go whilst Tomis CONSTANTA have written a piece of history by becoming the first men’s team from Romania to achieve this feat.
Another four teams will continue their European journey in the Challenge Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men: Precura ANTWERP and Knack ROESELARE of Belgium, as well as CAI TERUEL of Spain and Fenerbahce SK. ISTANBUL of Turkey will all get another chance to vie for glory on the international stage once Europe’s second most prestigious club competition resumes in early March. The pairings for the Challenge Round will also be released on Thursday following the relevant DOL.
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