11/01/2018 19:54
NOVARA complete terrific comeback to edge Fenerbahce at tiebreak
2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women
Luxembourg, January 11, 2018. Italy’s Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA came back from two sets down to storm to a 3-2 victory in their matchup with Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL and celebrate their first win in a ‘pool of death’ including another Italian heavyweight, last year’s silver medal winners Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO. On a busy night in the pool stage of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Women, Romania’s CSM Volei Alba BLAJ cemented their leadership in Pool A with a second straight victory, this time over Poland’s CL rookies Developres SkyRes RZESZOW, as Serbia’s Vizura RUMA emerged victorious (3-1) from their away fixture at Maritza PLOVDIV in Bulgaria. France’s ASPTT MULHOUSE VB claimed a dramatic 3-2 away victory in Zurich as they failed to capitalise on a 2-0 lead but were able to regroup to pull out a tiebreak win.
Volero ZÜRICH (SUI) vs. ASPTT MULHOUSE VB (FRA) 2-3 (19-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-23, 10-15)
• Volero ZÜRICH tallied up more than 35 unforced errors over the entire game.
• Rosir Kalderon could not lead Volero ZÜRICH to a win despite scoring 21 points.
• ASPTT MULHOUSE VB scored 14 blocks (five in the first, four in the second set) over the entire game.
• Hayley Spelman was the best scorer of ASPTT MULHOUSE VB with 18 points, including four blocks.
• Around 100 fans from Mulhouse came to Zurich to support their team. The fans and the team performed a Viking chant after the game.
Hayley Spelman, opposite hitter of ASPTT MULHOUSE VB: “It feels amazing. Our fans were just great. It felt like we played at home. We are so happy they came to support us. In my opinion, Volero ZÜRICH came back because they made some changes in the third and fourth set – and we just committed too many unforced errors in the crucial moments. I am glad we came back and that every player contributed to this win.”
Avital Selinger, coach of Volero ZÜRICH: “Our start was not as good as we hoped before the game. Nonetheless, we showed some resilience and fighting spirit and fought our way back into the game. We just committed too many unforced errors in the first two sets. That is the reason why we never found our rhythm. In my opinion, the unforced errors are not due to lack of experience of single players. We just played immaturely and not consistently enough as a team. Now we have to go back to work.”
Developres SkyRes RZESZOW (POL) vs. CSM Volei Alba BLAJ (ROU) 0-3 (19-25, 25-27, 17-25)
• Adela Helić top scored for the home side with 14 points in their losing effort.
• On the other side of the net, Ana Cleger Abel top scored with 29 points for BLAJ.
• Katarzyna Żabińska and Ana Cleger Abel recorded a 67% success rate in attack.
• The libero of CSM Volei Alba BLAJ, Marina Vujović was the best receiver of the day with 75% positive and 50% perfect reception.
• Developres SkyRes scored two aces vs. five for their opponents.
Aleksandra Crncevic, player of CSM Volei Alba BLAJ: “We feel extremely happy with this result, especially because we worked very hard for that and we are indeed working very hard to achieve our goals. Both teams played well, not perfectly, and of course, there is room for improvement but at the same time, I am confident that those better games will come. The most important thing for us is that we won and this is a great result for us. We played previously with Volero and now a match with MULHOUSE is next, so we have to take it one match at a time. I truly believe that we will play better and better.”
Adela Helić, player of Developres SkyRes RZESZOW: “We were expecting that Alba BLAJ would be that strong. We knew that they are strong, that they have lot of foreign players and a very good coach from Serbia, but I expected from us to play a little bit more aggressive. We have to clear our minds and keep going as we play on Monday another match in the Polish national league. We need to clear our minds for that. We will see what will happen in the upcoming match of the Champions League where we will play against Volero.”
Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL (TUR) vs. Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA (ITA) 2-3 (26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 19-25, 6-15)
• Fenerbahce broke away shortly after the first technical time-out of the opening set moving the score from 8-7 to 11-8 and kept a three-point lead at the second technical break; despite making many service errors, NOVARA fought back before Fenerbahce emerged victorious at 26-24.
• NOVARA edged ahead at the first technical break of the second set (8-6) before Fenerbahce came back strong to claim a 16-13 lead; Fenerbahce continued to play very aggressively and eventually doubled their lead in the match (25-19).
• The third set followed the same plot with NOVARA storming to an early 8-6 lead but this time the visitors maintained it (16-14) before Fenerbahce clawed back with the help of Polina Rahimova. However, NOVARA did not tremble and eventually won the set 25-22.
• Rahimova and Dicle Nur Babat propelled Fenerbahce to a 10-6 advantage in the fourth set but NOVARA fought back to close in at the second technical break (16-15); after the game resumed, the visitors delivered a startling performance to take an overwhelming 25-19 win.
• NOVARA continued to play with the same intensity in the tiebreak leading 8-4 at the side switch and completed their comeback with a 15-6 score to seal their 3-2 victory.
• Polina Rahimova top scored in the game with 33 points for Fenerbahce as Paola Egonu tallied up 28 for NOVARA.
Maritza PLOVDIV (BUL) vs. Vizura RUMA (SRB) 1-3 (17-25, 25-22, 17-25, 13-25)
• Vizura RUMA put their excellent block-defence system on display in the first set, which helped the Serbs towards a 25-17 win.
• With Desislava Nikolova on fire in the second set, Maritza PLOVDIV started showing their real face. Nikolova contributed eight points towards a 25-22 win.
• The third set was competitive through 14-15. The importance of the match made the rest of the set very nervous and emotional, something Vizura took advantage of for another 25-17 close.
• There was only one team playing on the court during the fourth set. It was as if the home side gave up, despite the relentless support of some 3,800 people on the stands at Kolodruma. After a 25-13 landslide, the Serbian champions won the match.
• Katarina Lazović contributed 24 points to Vizura’s victory to top the scorers’ charts of the match. Desislava Nikolova was Maritza’s top scorer with 16 points.
Ivan Petkov, coach of Maritza PLOVDIV: “We did not win the match - that is true. We did not show what we came for. But we are going to improve ourselves and I think we will win next time.”
Shainah Joseph, player of Maritza PLOVDIV: “It was an interesting game. Thanks to the audience for the great atmosphere! It was a pleasure for me to play for Maritza today.”
Dejan Desnica, coach of Vizura RUMA: “We had the power and the spirit to win the match. I hope that we will keep winning so that we can achieve our goals and our dreams.”
Sladjana Eric, team captain of Vizura RUMA: “We came here to win and we did our job. I am so proud of my girls. We played at a very high level on all the elements and look at the result – 3-1 to us! I am so happy!”
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