13/12/2017 20:42
Alba BLAJ and Developres SkyRes record couple of historic wins
2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women
Luxembourg, December 13, 2017. The second night of play in the group stage of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Women produced some surprising results, especially when it comes to the 3-1 home victory claimed by Romania’s CSM Volei Alba BLAJ in their matchup with Volero ZÜRICH. Rookies Developres SkyRes RZESZOW continue to make history with every match they play. After progressing to the group stage in their first participation in Europe’s elite club competition, they began their journey in the League Round with a 3-1 home victory over French reigning national champions ASPTT MULHOUSE VB. Bulgaria’s Maritza PLOVDIV failed to achieve the same feat, as they lost in three sets to 2014 gold medal winners Dinamo KAZAN of Russia. In the ‘Match of the Week’, last year’s silver medal winners Imoco Volley stormed to a 3-1 victory over domestic rivals Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA in a truly exciting game.
CSM Volei Alba BLAJ (ROU) vs. Volero ZÜRICH (SUI) 3-1 (26-24, 25-22, 24-26, 25-21)
• The three-time Romanian national champions played with much passion to record a 3-1 victory.
• Volero put up a fight in four closely contested sets but failed to stretch the match to a tiebreak.
• After trailing 1-6 in the opening set, Volero came back (8-8) but with a little luck on their side, BLAJ won it 26-24.
• The hosts rushed to a 10-4 lead in the second set and even though Volero closed in at 14-12, BLAJ kept a little edge until the end (25-22).
• The third set was a close affair too, with Angelina Lazarenko making the difference for Volero from the service line to keep the Swiss hopes alive (26-24).
• Volero trailed from the early stages of the fourth set with BLAJ looking in control and finishing it all off with a service winner by their Cuban star Ana Cleger (25-21).
Darko Zakoc, head coach of CSM Volei Alba BLAJ: “It is a great victory, we started very well and we should have won in three sets, but we made some unforced mistakes in the third set. We deserve this result, we have all three points in our pocket and that is especially important for us. I am happy, all the credit to the girls. We want to thank our fans for the amazing support and I hope that we can improve the level of our performance before the second game in the Champions League.”
Aleksandra Crncevic, player of CSM Volei Alba BLAJ: “It was my first game, after only a few days with the team and I felt kind of emotional, but we did great. The atmosphere was great, the fans were amazing and the result is exceptional. We are very happy and we will keep working for more such wins. Thank you everyone for your support tonight!”
Gil Ferrer Cutino, head coach of Volero: “We didn’t play good, but we were ok, we made some mistakes and that’s all. The last time we came to Sibiu we had a much stronger team, now we have a younger one, but we tried to do our best, we were fighting, but BLAJ did very well today and their victory is absolutely deserved.”
Ana Antonijevic, player of Volero: “It was a difficult game, the first one in the Champions League this season, and we are still looking for a new coach. It was nice to meet the people from Blaj, I won some trophies here last year and this team will always have a special place in my heart. We have to do more, but I am positive about our next games.”
Developres SkyRes RZESZOW (POL) vs. ASPTT MULHOUSE VB (FRA) 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-14, 25-17)
• The best player of the day for the home team was Hélène Rousseaux – she scored 24 points in four sets.
• Rousseaux was also the best spiker with a success rate of 51%.
• Jelena Blagojević was the best receiver of the day with 62 and 33% of positive and perfect reception, respectively.
• On the other side of the net, Britt Herbots top scored with 12 points for ASPTT MULHOUSE VB.
• Developres SkyRes scored eight aces, as their opponents recorded three.
Jelena Blagojević, team captain of Developres SkyRes: “We feel great. This was the first match for this club in the group stage of the CEV Champions League, and we crowned it with a victory. I think we did not play so good, especially in the second set, but at the end 3-1 for us is the most important thing. It is extremely important for my team to play matches like today’s one because of the level. We are obviously very happy, as this win is truly important. Now we are going back to the Polish league and we have to focus on Saturday’s match with Toruń, which is a good team. This match will be a very important one too, because the league is important for us as well. We need to fight las much as we did today and we need to take points if we want to stay in the Top 4 of the current standing. We have two days to prepare ourselves for this match and I am sure we are able to win it, especially because of the great atmosphere we have in the team.”
Hayley Spelman, player of ASPTT MULHOUSE VB: “Developres SkyRes is a great team. It was our first match, and although we did lose, we showed many good things. It just shows what we need to improve on, which is a good thing. We just have to work on it and practice more. I think that in the second set, we just got a lot of momentum on our side and we had a lot of fighting spirit and this helped us a lot; I think we just need to believe in ourselves, that we can do it. On Saturday, we play with Rocheville LE CANNET, so we cannot think about this loss anymore. We just need to recover our bodies and our minds and focus to win on Saturday.”
Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO (ITA) vs. Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA (ITA) 3-1 (25-13, 25-18, 20-25, 25-14)
• Samantha Bricio helped Imoco Volley claim a small lead in the first set (12-8) and the hosts extended it to 18-10 with the help of Robin de Kruijf. This was enough for CONEGLIANO to rally to a compelling 25-13 win.
• The second set followed the same plot with Imoco leading the way (12-7) as Bricio and Kimberly Hill joined forces to deliver a terrific performance (20-14); NOVARA attempted a late comeback but the hosts held onto their advantage to double the lead in the match (25-18).
• The course of the game changed in the third set with the score remaining close through to 11-11; Cristina Chirichella and Lauren Gibbemeyer helped the visitors edge ahead at the second technical time-out (16-13) and with Imoco Volley struggling in defence, NOVARA extended their lead to 23-16. However, that was not the end with Bricio scoring some aces and taking CONEGLIANO to a three-point deficit at 20-23 before NOVARA finished it off at 25-20 after winning a video challenge.
• Igor Gorgonzola set their sights on the tiebreak when leading 5-2 in the fourth set but Bricio restored equality very soon; after that, the hosts were the dominant force with Hill, Bricio, Anna Danesi and Samanta Fabris producing a massive 25-14 win to seal their 3-1 victory.
Kimberly Hill, player of Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO: “We played against them three days ago, this time we managed to get another win, the most important thing was to start this round well and keep the home advantage: we did it playing maybe our best game this season. We are on the right way.”
Celeste Plak, player of Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA: “We played our worst game this season, especially in the first two sets where we were not focused. Now we have to think about tonight’s mistakes and try to get back starting with the next match against Fenerbahce.”
Maritza PLOVDIV (BUL) vs. Dinamo KAZAN (RUS) 0-3 (19-25, 23-25, 23-25)
• With an excellent all-round performance by middle blocker Nasya Dimitrova, Maritza PLOVDIV managed to trail close behind their prominent opponent in the score and even take the lead on a couple of occasions, but eventually failed to win any sets.
• Nasya Dimitrova aced six times for a total of 18 points and became the top scorer of the match, followed by teammate Kremena Kamenova with 13.
• Five of Dinamo KAZAN’s players reached the double digits. Irina Voronkova, Irina Zariazhko and Natalya Mammadova scored 12 points each. Anastasia Samoilenko and Elitsa Vasileva tallied 11 apiece.
• Maritza out-served Dinamo (eight aces against two); the two sides tide on kill blocks with five each; Dinamo’s spikers brought the team 51 points against 37 by Maritza’s offence.
• After the first leg in Pool C, Poland’s Chemik POLICE lead the current standings, followed by Dinamo KAZAN, Maritza PLOVDIV and Serbia’s Vizura RUMA.
Elitsa Vasileva, player of Dinamo KAZAN: “We did not play our best Volleyball today, but I am happy we managed to stay calm through the end of the game and won. These are important three points for us. I hope that in our next Champions League matches we will show a better game.”
Radosveta Teneva, player of Maritza PLOVDIV: “For me, it was an honour to play in this competition hall in front of so many people who came to support us. I think we behaved in a very dignified manner against such a good opponent. Although we lost by 0-3 and have a lot more work ahead of us, we are satisfied with our performance.”
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