27/01/2015 23:03
Knack ROESELARE happy with home win and qualification to CEV Cup Challenge Round
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men
Roeselare, Belgium, January 27, 2015. Belgium’s Knack ROESELARE accomplished their mission on Wednesday night as they cruised to a 3:1 home victory over #Dragons LUGANO (25-18, 14-25, 25-19, 25-18) to claim a spot in the Challenge Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men. The Belgian champions knew there was much at stake and they eventually seized their chance to continue their European adventure this season to provide some 2,000 fans in attendance at Schiervelde sports hall with something to cheer about.
The tempo of the match was immediately set by Knack ROESELARE opposite Hendrik Tuerlinckx who claimed an 8:5 lead for his team at the first technical time-out of the opening set. On the other side of the net it was Caio Cesar Provenzano De Pra to pace the Swiss Dragons but Knack was in full control (16:12, 20:15) and two blocks by Tomas Rousseaux brought the set almost to an end (23:17). The final whistle was there as Leonardo Puliti made a mistake in attack for LUGANO and Knack could celebrate their 25-18 set victory.
The start of the second set was very close but this time around it was LUGANO to break away in the score helped by their Brazilian spiker Caio Cesar Provenzano De Pra. The Dragons moved the score up to 13:5 in their favour and continued to set the pace of the game also at the second technical time-out (16:8) as they were showing a very well organised defence. Whatever the hosts tried to do, it did not bring the desired result and in the end LUGANO won the set by 25-14.
The course of the game changed again in the third set where Knack could organise their team work in a more efficient way (8:6); both teams were fighting to keep their nerves under control as they made errors from the back line. Knack called for the second technical time-out by the score of 16:13 but once again Provenzano De Pra played superbly for LUGANO almost closing the gap at 20:18. Still, Pieter Coolman cashed the final 25-19 and by making sure they would take at least one point from this match, Knack had secured their ticket to the Challenge Round of the CEV Volleyball Cup.
In the fourth set Ruben Van Hirtum replaced Matthijs Verhanneman and this player contributed the decisive break while standing behind the service line moving the score from 13:12 to 18:12. Once again with their captain and opposite Hendrik Tuerlinckx assuming a leading role, Knack could keep control of the operations and cashed the set at 25-18 to celebrate a much desired home victory.
“My team showed a lot of character after losing the second set so badly,” said Knack head coach Emile Rousseaux. “We knew that the loss of that set was the result of an extraordinary performance by their Brazilian player. We kept playing our own game and this brought the desired result in the end. I am particularly pleased with the performance delivered by Ruben Van Hirtum. It was his first match in about a month after suffering a serious knee injury.”
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