Luxembourg, November 12, 2017. With eight slots in the 4th Round available, all eyes were on the remaining 3rd Round fixtures to see who would make the prestigious group stage of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Men.  Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK, Noliko MAASEIK and VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN were first, following on from their first leg victories with straight sets wins.  Next to secure their places in Fridays draw were Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL, Sir Colussi Sicoma PERUGIA and JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel before the evening concluded with Ford Store Levoranta SASTAMALA and Spacer's TOULOUSE VB coming through by winning their respective Golden Sets. 

All eyes now turn to the draw for the pools, scheduled alongside the European Volleyball Gala this coming Friday in Moscow.

• In order to go to the group stage of the Champions League, Lokomotiv knew it was enough to win two sets and the Novosibirsk team confidently coped with this task.
• Over 2,000 spectators came out to support, and with the journey from Ljubljana being a 67 hour drive it is understandable that the percentage of these were behind the home team.
• Ivan Lukyanenko controlled the game well, distributing the ball around his attackers and challenging the Slovenian block, ensuring his team made a strong start to each set.
• In the first two crucial sets, the score was always plus two to the Russian side at each of the technical time-outs.
• The number of points that the Slovenian champions got decreased by two points in each set (22-20-18), as did the duration of the sets (30-28-26).
• Top scorer was György Grozer who made 19 points for his new team.
• ACH Volley LJUBLJANA move to the CEV Volleyball Cup where they will play OK NOVI PAZAR from Serbia.

Quotes:

Plamen Konstantinov, head coach of Lokomotiv: “The simplest game was the third when we already knew that we were in the group stage of the Champions League, we played better than the other five sets against the Slovenian team. This gives an answer to all the questions about our problems that have been haunting us since the beginning of the season.  First of all, we cannot do much because of psychology. Only when you believe in yourself, you will be able to win. This is very important. I expect more aggressiveness in our game. We must win confidently, not wait for the opponent's mistakes.”

Zoran Kedacic, head coach of ACH Volley: “At home earlier this week we lost 0-3, which made it difficult for us to enter the next stage of the competition. In the first two sets we played well, and in the third game my players lost concentration, because it became clear that Lokomotiv had progressed to the next round. I congratulate the Novosibirsk team for a good game.”

Sir Colussi Sicoma PERUGIA (ITA) vs. Shakhtior SOLIGORSK (BLR) 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-19)

•    Home star Aleksandar Atanasijevic stood behind the service line from 3-3 to 10-3 in the first set; his serves were instrumental to this break for the hosts and they reached a maximum speed of 120 km/h.
•    Marko Podrascanin finished the match with an overwhelming 100% success rate in attack.
•    With Aaron Russell sealing a 25-16 win in the second set, PERUGIA secured their progression to the group stage.
•    Russell scored 13 points, including three aces and registered a 71% success rate in attack – thus receiving the MVP award at the end of the match.
•    All players on the roster of Shakhtior took to the court – with the only exception being their second libero, Andrei Marchenko.

Aaron Russell, player of Sir Colussi Sicoma PERUGIA: “Today it was really important to win because of the qualification to the next round being at stake. We had to fight and we did our best. We had a good mental approach and we had good defence and served very well too.”

Andrei Radziuk, player of Shakhtior SOLIGORSK: “We knew coming here that today it would be very hard for us. PERUGIA have such a great team and today their level was very high, especially when it comes to their serve and defence. From my side, I would like to congratulate them on such a terrific performance and on the outstanding team that they have.”

JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel (POL) vs. Omonia NICOSIA (CYP) 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-16)

•    It took only 46 minutes for the hosts to secure their progression to the next round – as they needed just a little more than three quarters of an hour to claim the two sets they needed.
•    The libero of Omonia, Marinos Papachristodoulou, turned 34 on the day of the second matchup with JASTRZEBSKI.
•    More than 2,000 fans turned out to cheer the home side on.
•    As many as 12 players from the home side took to the court – only Grzegorz Kosok and Salvador Hidalgo Oliva did not do so.
•    The hosts finished the match on 11 blocks, with five scored by Damian Boruch.

Jakub Popiwczak, libero of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel: “The level of our play wasn’t the most important factor today. To win two sets was crucial and we did it. We are happy that we won in three sets and now we are thinking about the next PlusLiga match. For us it is a big thing that we will have the chance to play against the strongest teams in Europe.”

Ioannis Kalmazidis, head coach of Omonia NICOSIA: “The pre-favourites won the match. Volleyball is a sport where in more than 90 per cent of the cases the better teams are winning. JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel are simply better and a more professional team than us and this is why they won today. It’s logical.”

Noliko MAASEIK (BEL) vs. Abiant GRONINGEN (NED) 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-23)

• With 8 points from their outstanding opposite Jolan Cox, Noliko MAASEIK cruised to a clean 25-21 win in the first set.
• The Dutch visitors didn’t want to surrender, but with two aces in a row Cox turned the guests’ 4-7 lead into a 18-13 deficit. Together with Timo Tammemaa, Cox blocked Auke van de Kamp for 25-17.
• With two sets MAASEIK secured their spot in the group stage, their 17th consecutive appearance on the top level of the Champions League.
• Noliko has now played 8 European Cup matches (on all levels) against Dutch opponents and won them all.
• SWD powervolleys DÜREN from Germany will be the opponents of Abiant GRONINGEN in the CEV Cup.

Quotes:

Nicolas BRUNO from Noliko MAASEIK: “We didn’t play with the idea that two sets would be enough to reach the pool stage. We really wanted to win, that’s why we came out firmly from the first point on. And in the end we did a good job. Now we can look forward to the group stage and to a couple of top teams. I have no preference, because there are so many good teams in Europe. Everything will depend on what the balls will do in the draw.”

Arjan Taaij, head coach of Abiant GRONINGEN: “This is a disappointing result, since we had come over to Belgium for the qualification. I thought we were closer to Maaseik’s level. But I don’t want to blame my players. In my starting line, I’ve got four real young guys. Now they know what the level of Champions League is.”

Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL (TUR) vs. Posojilnica AICH/DOB (AUT) 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 26-24)

•    Fenerbahce did not drop a set in their two matches with Posojilnica.
•    They needed to take two sets from the re-match at home to progress to the next round and they comfortably did so.
•    Three Fenerbahce players finished the match in double digits – Alen Sket (14), Metin Toy (13) and Jurii Gladyr (12).
•    Posojilnica will continue their European journey in the 16th Finals of the CEV Cup.

VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (GER) vs. Neftohimic 2010 BURGAS (BUL) 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-20)

•    VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN started the match with six Germans – Greek Athanasios Protopsaltis was the only foreigner in their starting line-up.
•    In the first set, Vital Heynen brought in Tomas Kocian for Jakob Günthör at 18-12. Kocian serves eight times in a row and he finished the set with an ace (25-12).
•    Andreas Takvam is the first player in VfB’s history who scored in the Champions League as a middle blocker and as an outside hitter as well.
•    The hosts out-blocked the visitors 9 to 3.
•    VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN have competed in the pool stage of the CEV Volleyball Champions League uninterruptedly since the inaugural edition held in the 2000-2001 season.

Vital Heynen, head coach of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN: “We played very strong today and BURGAS were a very competitive opponent. I am looking forward to the group stage. I think we are a little stronger this year than we were last year.”

Valentin Bratoev, player of Neftohimic 2010 BURGAS: “I wanted to come back to Friedrichshafen in a different way after I played here in 2013. We definitely wanted to win. However, the opponent pushed us very hard and were the better team in Burgas as well as here.”

Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE (CZE) vs. Ford Store Levoranta SASTAMALA (FIN) 3-1 (25-21, 25-17, 18-25, 25-20)

Ford Store Levoranta SASTAMALA won 15-12 in the Golden Set.

• Top scorer for Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE was Filip Krestan (27 points) and Urpo Sivula for the travelling team (21 points).
• In each of the three sets that the home team won, the Finnish team did not lead at any point.
• Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE had double the number of blocks (16) than SASTAMALA did (8), and the same happened with aces (6 to 3).
• The match was played in front of 1,500 people and lasted 1 minute over the two hour mark.
• Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE will now move to the CEV Cup where they will face the winner of Hapoel MATE-ASHER AKKO (ISR) and OK Mladost BRCKO (BIH).

Quotes:

Radek Mach of Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE: "It was a very strong and dramatic match. We had good serves, but SASTAMALA had very good reception."

René Dvorak, coach of Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE: "Last week we played quite bad volleyball so we were looking forward and we know, that we should win. We had better service today and good attack. Congratulations to SASTAMALA."

Olli Kunnari, player of  Ford Store Levoranta SASTAMALA: "The match was played in very a dramatic atmosphere. The home team had a very good serve and so we had problems with our attack.  I like that the match was played in a loud atmosphere and we are happy for our fans. As a team we are happy, we will go to the main phase of the Champions League!"

Spacer's TOULOUSE VB (FRA) vs. Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD (SRB) 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23)

Spacer's TOULOUSE VB won 15-10 in the Golden Set.

• Spacer’s TOULOUSE are making their Champions League debut this season after two appearances in the CEV Cup.
• Just over 1,000 people came to watch this decider at Palais des Sports "André Brouat" in Toulouse.
• The losing team will now move to the CEV Cup and will face the eventual winner of Barkom-Kazhany LVIV (UKR) vs Maccabi TEL-AVIV (ISR).
• Vojvodina will be looking to repeat their feat from 2015 when they became the only Serbian team to stand on top of the podium in any of the European Cups (CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup).
• Top scorer was Andres J. Villena from the home team with 33 points across the evening.
• The French side have assembled players from six countries (France, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Spain and Sweden) and for most this is their first taste of Champions League Volleyball.  

Live score, statistics, reports and photos: all available on www.cev.lu

Social Media: Follow via the official event hashtag (#CLVolleyM) with the most regular updates coming on our competition Twitter account @CEVolleyballCL

What’s next?

The eventual winners of the third-round fixtures will progress to the pool stage of the competition, with the Drawing of Lots due to take place on November 17, 2017 in Moscow.

#CLVolleyM