09/03/2015 16:42
Resovia only one step away from making historic Final Four appearance
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men
Rzeszow, Poland, March 9, 2015. After last week’s sensational away victory over Russia’s Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK in the first round of the Playoffs 6, Poland’s Asseco Resovia RZESZOW got one step closer to the achievement of their ultimate dream. On Wednesday, once they host the 2013 gold medal winners at Podpromie sports hall, Resovia will have to take another two sets in order to book their ticket to the Final Four tournament of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men scheduled for March 28-29 in Berlin, Germany.
Last week Resovia caused a sensation by cruising to a rather unexpected away win over the winners of the 2013 edition. The Russians have already travelled to Poland for the re-match coming up on Wednesday night. “We flew straight from Surgut where we had our last game in the Russian Superleague,” USA middle blocker David Lee said upon arrival. “We knew that Resovia is a very strong team but the fact that so many players performed well last week was the main point that determined the final result of that match,” he continues. “I still hope that we can beat them. Last week Nikolay Penchev recorded a terrific 70% in attack, Jochen Schöps was just outstanding and the same applies to the performance delivered by Marko Ivovic. I know that Resovia have a lot of fans and it is going to be very loud on Wednesday night, which makes it even more difficult for us to fight our way back. My team is a little down right now from a psychological standpoint but I think we still stand a chance of making the Final Four.”
Thousands of passionate fans of Resovia are anxiously waiting for the re-match on Wednesday night. If their heroes make it to the Final Four, that would be the best result ever in the club’s history. The tickets for the home game with Lokomotiv were sold-out in only five minutes!
The team has been doing well also in the national league and last Sunday claimed the first round of the semi-finals with JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel by cruising to a 3:1 victory. This result was achieved also via the contribution brought by some reserve players such as Paul Lotman, Lukas Tichacek and Rafal Buszek. Jochen Schöps looked once more in great shape and was voted MVP of that game. “We are performing well but the key is to keep our focus and take it match after match. Our next one is coming up on Wednesday night. I think that we are able to win again and make the Final Four,” Schöps says.
“This is the most important match of the season so far for us,” head coach Andrzej Kowal adds. “We are extremely determined to make the Final Four in Berlin. Now everything is in our hands. Right now we are in a different situation than many would have predicted, after winning last week we are now the favourites of this re-match. Lokomotiv, however, is a team that can play a lot better than they did last week.”
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