Luxembourg, December 21, 2017. The line-up of the best 16 teams in the 2018 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men is now complete after the last two clashes of the 16th Finals found their outcome on Thursday. The very last match-up of the round happened to be the only one decided in a golden set, with Germany’s SWD powervolleys DÜREN celebrating victorious. France’s MONTPELLIER Volley UC were more convincing in the way they moved forward in the competition.
Here are the #CEVCupM results from Thursday, 21st December 2017:
MONTPELLIER pull-off away straight-set win t make CEV Cup 8th Finals
Having taken last year’s CEV Cup by storm progressing to the semis, Germany’s United Volleys RHEIN MAIN found themselves back to reality after a 0-3 loss (27-29, 21-25, 19-25) at home against MONTPELLIER Volley UC from France. While their first season seemed like a dream that only ended in the semi-finals against eventual winners TOURS VB, the second European journey of the young squad from the Frankfurt area was over after only two matches.
“The end of set one was the crucial point,” said United Volleys head coach Michael Warm. After a close 2-3 loss in France two weeks earlier, his team had several chances to put even more pressure on their opponents. “We worked hard for more than 30 minutes, but then we were a bit reckless and gave away the set too easy,” Warm deplored. After the unfortunate 27-29 loss, RHEIN MAIN was not able to get back their successful flow from the first match. Whilst almost 1,700 visitors made the event a fantastic European Cup night cheering tirelessly for their home team, MONTPELLIER gained more and more control over the game.
19-year-old European silver medallist Tobias Krick and his colleagues never really found the right means to stop the French quick attacks. In addition to that, MONTPELLIER’s Jean Patry showed an excellent performance by scoring 16 points. “Good luck and bad luck sometimes are closely intertwined in Volleyball,” stated RHEIN MAIN middle blocker Lukas Bauer – well aware of the high potential of French teams after having played for four years in Ligue A himself.
“MONTPELLIER did a great job tonight with an impressive defence and totally deserve to progress to the next round,” coach Warm acknowledged. With an almost completely new roster this season, the United Volleys will now concentrate on their national championship and try to return even stronger to the European Cups next year.
Marvin Prolingheuer scores 33 times to power SWD powervolleys into next round
Abiant GRONINGEN came out on court well motivated to cancel out the three-set deficit from the first match against SWD powervolleys DÜREN in Germany two weeks ago. So they did. The Dutch squad fought for a 3-1 (25-18, 16-25, 25-23, 25-22) victory, but when it came down to the golden set, it was the Germans that emerged victorious with a spot among the best 16.
A series of eight consecutive points in the first set gave Abiant a comfortable advantage to cruise to a 1-0 opening. SWD powervolleys were well in control of the second set to tie the match. In both the third and the fourth sets, the Germans put on the pressure searching for closure, but the Dutch managed to come back on top in the conclusive moments to win. In a nail-biting golden set, the lead went back and forth several times before the Germans had the final say for a 15-13 win.
Marvin Prolingheuer tallied a fantastic 33 points in the five sets to top the scorers’ charts. Abiant’s most prolific player Wytze Kooistra followed not so far behind with 28.
To find more information on the competition, click here.