Luxembourg, January 31, 2018.  Poland’s Asseco Resovia RZESZOW, Turkey’s Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA, France’s GFC AJACCIO VB and MONTPELLIER Volley UC, Italy’s Calzedonia VERONA and Belgium’s  Lindemans AALST all qualified for the quarterfinals of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men on Wednesday, joining Russia's Belogorie BELGOROD and Slovenia's ACH Volley LJUBLJANA, who made it among the best eight of the competition on Tuesday.

Here are the full results and the match reports received:






Asseco Resovia RZESZOW (POL) vs. Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD (SRB) 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-21)



•    Asseco Resovia RZESZOW quickly gained a five-point advantage, before cruising comfortably to a 25-20 win, shaped up with an attack by Jakub Jarosz, who scored seven times in the first set.
•    In the second set, Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD played much better, but the decisive points were won by the home team, securing progression to the next round with a 28-26 close. Aleksander Śliwka was the best scorer of this set with six points, as many as those scored by Jarosz.
•    In the third set, Vojvodina failed to concentrate. The final point was won by Lukasz Perlowski with a kill block.
•    Jakub Jarosz was the best scorer of the game with 14 points. Miran Kujundzic scored 13 times for Vojvodina.

Dominik Depowski, player of Asseco Resovia RZESZOW: “We played a good match. In two of the sets the opponents fought and were close to winning, but ultimately we emerged victorious and advanced to the next round. We are already focusing on the next match.”

Vuk Todorovic, player of Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD: “Resovia played a very good match. We fought, but that was not enough. Congratulations to Asseco Resovia for the victory and the qualification to the next round. We wish them luck!”

SWD powervolleys DÜREN (GER) vs. Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA (TUR) 2-3 (25-27, 18-25, 25-19, 25-23, 9-15)



•    The shortest player of Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA, setter Ulaş Kıyak, delivered two crucial blocks at the end of the first set and closed the set at 27-25.
•    Dawid Konarski brought back Ziraat in the second set with his serves. First, he gave his team a 9-8 lead coming back from 3-8 down. Then he helped his side to an 18-14 lead. This helped silence SWD powervolleys DÜREN and decide who is going to the quarterfinals.
•    Both teams resorted to subs from the start of the third set. SWD powervolleys’ defence and blocking were much sharper at the end of the set. So they avoided being swept in straight sets. Although Ziraat Bankasi played with more intensity in the fourth set, the home team kept their courage and managed to force a tie-break. A couple of mistakes by the hosts helped the Turkish squad, playing on a high level anyway. Oleg Antonov sealed the deal with a couple of strong serves.
•    When Konarski served in the second set, it showed that the German side was a bit short-handed, because their two experienced outside hitters Dirk Westphal and Romans Sauss were out. Young guns Karli Allik and Julius Firkal did a good job, but Ziraat had more to offer with German national team player Denys Kaliberda and Oleg Antonov, the new arrival from Italy.

Gilles Braas, player of SWD powervolleys DÜREN: "We can be proud of our performance. In the first, the third and the fourth sets we showed that we can compete on a very high level, even with some injury problems. To be out of the CEV Cup is painful, but we did not go down without a fight. All of our reserves were motivated and that showed. For sure Ziraat did not want to play a tie-breaker, but we forced them to."

Denys Kaliberda, player of Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA: "It was tough for DÜREN with two outside hitters out. In the first set they really put us to the test. We made too many mistakes. After that we increased the intensity and secured the ticket to the next round. Hats off to DÜREN! They deserved to force us into the tie-break."

GFC AJACCIO VB (FRA) vs. Volley AMRISWIL (SUI) 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-20)



Report expected...

MONTPELLIER Volley UC (FRA) vs. Shakhtior SOLIGORSK (BLR) 2-3 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 9-15)



•    MONTPELLIER Volley UC started the match easily and quickly took the lead. However, on several good series in serving, Shakhtior SOLIGORSK came back. In a beautiful duel, MONTPELLIER won by 25-23 in the end.
•    Shakhtior raised their level and stepped up the pace in the second set. With very good blocking, they won the set by 25-23.
•    The third set was very balanced. Both teams showed some very nice Volleyball. MONTPELLIER chased the attacks and won the set by 25-21, thus qualifying for the quarterfinals.
•    With the stakes off, Shakhtior continued to fight and took control of the fourth set. The young players of MONTPELLIER brought in more energy to tie it at 23-23, but at last a block won the set for the Belarusians - 25-23.
•    Both teams rotated their squads for the tie-breaker, which eventually led Shakhtior to the 3-2 victory in the match.

Davide Saitta, player of MONTPELLIER Volley UC: "We are happy with the qualification. We confirmed our victory in the first match in front of our many supporters. Personally, I am excited to play against an Italian team in the next round."

Viktar Beksha, coach of Shakhtior SOLIGORSK: "The first match was crucial for the outcome of this clash. We wanted to show our true face. I am still satisfied with our performance tonight despite the overall defeat. It was a good experience for my young team."

Calzedonia VERONA (ITA) vs. Dukla LIBEREC (CZE) 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 28-26)



•    The beginning of the first set was balanced, before Calzedonia VERONA did some good things in blocking for a 10-8 lead, which was then extended to 18-12. Dukla LIBEREC narrowed the gap down with an ace and a block-out - 18-16, but then Tonček Stern became the key player  to carry his team to a 25-19 win.
•    There was no story to tell in the second set - Calzedonia powered to a 17-5 lead. Jan Stokr tried to lessen the damage with his serves - 23-13, but Mitar Tzourits closed the set at 25-16.
•    With qualification guaranteed, Calzedonia played more relaxed in the third set, taking a 12-10 lead thanks to Stephen Maar’s serving and Aleks Grodzanov’s spiking. Dukla did not give up and benefited from Calzedonia’s mistakes to tie at 19-19. Two mistakes in a row by the Czech team ended the tough overtime battle at 28-26 in favour of the home side.
•    Jan Stokr was the best scorer of the match with 13 points for Dukla.

Lindemans AALST (BEL) vs. Posojilnica AICH/DOB (AUT) 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-21)



After the 3-1 victory that they had claimed two weeks ago in Austria, two sets were enough for Lindemans AALST to qualify for the last eight in the CEV Cup. The hosts cruised to a 25-23, 25-15 and 25-21 victory, much to the delight of the almost 600 fans in attendance.

Lindemans ran slightly behind at 12-14 and 19-20 in the first set, but after edging ahead at 23-22, they eventually claimed the first set 25-23. Lindemans needed another set to qualify. The home team stuck together, jumping from 8-6 to 16-9 at the second technical time-out. The difference grew to 23-14 as opposite Gert Van Walle scored 18 points and team captain Adrian Staszewski added 15 to the Belgian team’s tally by the end of the match.

At 2-0, the qualification was in the bag. Coach Johan Devoghel: “The most important thing was not to lose concentration. That is how I wanted it. I decided to replace Gertjan Claes with Antti Mäkinen. In the third set AICH/DOB pressed on until 8-11. However, we wanted to win by 3-0. That was mentally important for competing with leaders Noliko MAASEIK in the national league this coming weekend, especially after they beat Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE in the Champions League”. Best scorers for Posojilnica AICH/DOB were Lukasz Wiesze and Michal Petras with eight and seven points, respectively.

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