Luxembourg, February 28, 2018. It took two five set games on Wednesday to determine another two teams that made their way to the next round of CEV Challenge Cup. Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT defeated Biogas Volley NÄFELS on home court, while Bunge RAVENNA played an away game in Lisbon, where they made a comeback from losing 1-2 to confirm their place in the next stage of the competition. In the semis RAVENNA will be playing against Maliye Piyango SK ANKARA, while Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT are yet to know their opponent - Olympiacos PIRAEUS or PAR-KY MENEN.

Here are the all results of #CEVChallengeCupM on Wednesday:

Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT (RUS) vs.  Biogas Volley NÄFELS (SUI) 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-13, 22-25, 15-10)

• Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT took a 19-12 lead in the first set, but missed their chance to maintain the gap, allowing Biogas Volley NÄFELS to level the score at 22-22. The hosts made a lot of mistakes in the middle of the net, but they managed to achieve a minimal advantage, 25-23.
• In the second set the game continued point by point until 11-11, when Biogas Volley NÄFELS put pressure on the opponent, forcing them to make mistakes. This time Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT couldn’t overcome their errors and NÄFELS used the provided opportunities in a good way, equalising the score in the match. At 20-16 in favour of NÄFELS in the second set, their setter Reto Giger suffered an ankle joint injury and left the court until the end of the game. This fact became the determining point for the further development of the game.
• In the third set the new setter Kai Yendrik Aebli simplified the game, which allowed Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT to make seven kill blocks. It did not come as a surprise that the hosting club defeated the opponent 25-13.
• In the fourth and the fifth sets Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT used their reserve squad, with only Bogdan Glivenko remaining on the court. NÄFELS followed with their own replacements. Even though the two sets would not influence the result of this double fixture, NÄFELS tried to get the victory, but  Denis Ignatyev, who showed a good performance at the service line, surprised them completely, getting the victory on SURGUT’s side. 

Dalibor Polak, coach of Biogas Volley NÄFELS: “First of all, I want to congratulate SURGUT who made the step to the next round. We came here to show a good game and win. We showed a good game in the first two sets, but in the first one we made a lot of mistakes in the most important moments. In the second one we lost our first setter, which created problems for us in the decisive third set. We are a small club, we have only five professional players, so Volleyball is just a hobby for the rest of the team. It was a great success for us to make the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup. It's amazing to play against Russian teams, and I think during the first two sets we were a good opponent for the Surgut team.”

Ruslan Zhbankov, assistant coach of Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT: “NÄFELS showed good Volleyball today, but the opponent plays as they are allowed to play. I think that today we did not show our best game. The players were thinking about the victory, and it is not a difficult task to win two sets at home. But when the opponent comes out and begin to resist, it is very difficult to regroup. It is very hard to turn a negative trend into a positive one. So the game was nervous on our side.”

Sport LISBOA e Benfica (POR) vs. Bunge RAVENNA (ITA) 2-3 (21-25, 25-22, 25-18, 22-25, 14-16)

• Wednesday night brought an upset to Sport LISBOA e Benfica from the CEV Challenge Cup after a 2-3 defeat in the 2nd leg of the quarterfinals.
• After the previous 3-1 defeat in Italy in the 1st Leg, Benfica needed to get a 3-0 result or, eventually, a 3-1, in order to play the Golden Set and keep their chances to remain in the competition alive.
• Although the match was quite balanced and emotional until the end, the experience of the Italian club was decisive to determine the final result.
  

José Pereira Jardim, coach of Sport LISBOA e Benfica: “It was a great Volleyball match against one of the best teams we have played with, with a very consistent and decisive service, maintained by their side even when we were responding well. We never stopped believing but in the fourth set Nicolas Marechal made the difference for RAVENNA.”
 
Ivo Casas, libero of Sport LISBOA e Benfica: “We were very close to taking this match at least to the Golden Set. There was a lack of luck because it was a balanced match since the beginning and the result shows it. I am sad but we left a good impression.”
 
Fabio Soli, coach of Bunge RAVENNA: “We are so proud because we fought against a great team, in a great atmosphere. The performance of both teams was very good. We are honoured to reach the semis, mostly because we won against such a good team as Benfica.”
 
Nicolas Marechal, outside hitter of Bunge RAVENNA: “It was a difficult game, because maybe after the first set, we thought that the game was finished in our favour. Sport LISBOA e Benfica came back hungry for a victory and played very well. We are happy that we made it to the semis.”

For more details about the CEV Challenge Cup click here.