22/02/2018 20:14
Romanian sensation BLAJ claim fifth straight victory and ticket to Playoffs 6
2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women
Luxembourg, February 22, 2018. Romania’s sensation CSM Volei Alba BLAJ made it five wins in a row in Pool A after on Thursday night they stormed to a 3-1 home victory over Poland’s rookies Developres SkyRes RZESZOW to secure their progression to the Playoffs 6 of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Women. It is a truly historic result for BLAJ as well as for Romanian Volleyball as a whole. The other match on schedule for Thursday night featured Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA and Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL with the Italian national cup winners exploiting the home-court advantage to secure a 3-0 victory and remain in contention for the top spot in Pool B, waiting for the eagerly anticipated matchup with Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO next Tuesday.
CSM Volei Alba BLAJ (ROU) vs. Developres SkyRes RZESZOW (POL) 3-1 (25-15, 25-16, 20-25, 25-12)
• CSM Volei Alba BLAJ confirmed their status of real sensation in this year’s CEV Volleyball Champions League as they rallied to their fifth straight victory in as many matches they have contested in Pool A this far.
• As a result, BLAJ secured their progression to the Playoffs 6 and even with one more round still to play next Tuesday, they are sure to finish atop the charts in their group.
• Ana Cleger top scored with 29 points to cement her position as the most prolific player in the pool stage of the CEV Volleyball Champions League.
Darko Zakoc, head coach of CSM Volei Alba BLAJ: “It is a big night for us and for Romanian Volleyball too. We have five victories in as many matches and I think we deserve respect for this because I know that some people would say that we had an easy pool. However, it was not. We played every three days, we had injuries, and it is never that easy in this competition. I cannot enjoy this result, because we lost a very good player, Marina Vujovic, who is very important for us and for our game. We showed character and I am proud of my team. We will go to Zurich next week to play our best, even though we know that we will anyway finish first in the pool. We want to respect this competition. We will have a tough mission in the Playoffs 6; we know how strong our opponents are and how difficult it will be for us.”
Adina Salaoru, team captain of CSM Volei Alba BLAJ: “I cannot say it was easy to achieve this feat, because we had to play some tough opponents, but we were able to cope with the situation and finish in first place. This result is more important for us considering Marina Vujovic’s injury, and today’s victory was very important. I do not have a favourite team to play against in the Playoffs 6; I just wish to go even further in this competition.”
Lorenzo Micelli, head coach of Developres SkyRes RZESZOW: “For us, this game was the best one especially for the girls who have not played so much this far, because we have to prepare for the next game in our domestic league coming up on Saturday, where we want to stay on top of the charts. We tried to play our best; I can say there were good things in our game, but there were also bad ones.”
Jelena Blagojevic, team captain of Developres SkyRes: “We knew already that we don’t have any chances to advance to the next round, so for us this game was a good practice, to play against a good team. I think we played better than we did in our first match in Rzeszow. BLAJ is a good team; they showed this in Poland already. We won a set and put some pressure on them, but they showed their character and ultimately won. I think, after all, we played well and now we must focus on our league. It was the first time for this team to play in the Champions League and we are happy because we learned a lot from this experience.”
Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA (ITA) vs. Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL (TUR) 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-13)
• Celeste Plak was the best scorer of the game with 17 points (10 breakpoints). She scored eight in the second set alone.
• Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA made the difference with their attacking performance: the Italian side recorded a 49% success rate, while Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL had a much lower 27% figure.
• Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA won their fourth game in a row in Pool B, with this being their second straight 3-0 victory.
• Next Tuesday Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA will face Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO in their last game in Pool B to decide which team will finish on top of the charts in the group.
• After losing this game, Fenerbahce do not stand any chance of progressing to the next round anymore.
Celeste Plak, player of Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA: “It was really a wonderful game, we delivered a great performance and we are proud of it. When we play with this rhythm and intensity, I think that we can really have fun and achieve great results against any opponent. Now we need still to play and win our last game to secure a spot in the Playoffs: we look forward to it.”
Massimo Barbolini, coach of Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA: “We worked well in every aspect of the game and this was a very important result for us. Now we have another crucial game to determine the future prospects of our journey in the CEV Champions League. I think that tonight we played smart and we never gave the chance to our opponents to put us in trouble.”
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