Luxembourg, February 27, 2018. BURSA BBSK and Olympiacos SFP PIRAEUS continue their journey in the 2018 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Women after defeating Hermes OOSTENDE and Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen respectively. Both teams claimed straight-set victories to confirm their spots in the next round, with BURSA reaching the semi-finals without losing a set this far in the competition.
Here are the all results of #CEVChallengeCupW on Tuesday:
Reports received:
With an impressive performance, Olympiacos SFP PIRAEUS beat Pfeffingen 3-0 and celebrate their progression to the CEV Challenge Cup semi-finals!
- Olympiacos showed a very good performance in the first set, winning 25-4 with six blocks and five aces.
- Stephanie Niemer had an exceptional performance in the first set with four aces for her team and six throughout the match.
- Olympiacos scored 15 times with their serve, against one ace for Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen.
- The hosting team had nine points in blocking, against two of Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen.
- The best scorer of the match was Saskia Hippe of Olympiacos with 17 points.
The journey in the European Cups will continue for Olympiacos SFP PIRAEUS as the team reached the CEV Challenge Cup semifinals! The “Reds” qualified to the "Top 4" of the event thanks to their 3-0 win over Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen in the re-match held in Rentis, adding another glorious page to the history of the club. With the warm support of 1,000 fans, Olympiacos achieved a high standard performance and needed 38 minutes to take the first two sets that secured the semi-final spot for a second consecutive season! The overall victory took 61 minutes, with Olympiacos pushing Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen strongly in serve and block (with 15 and nine points scored respectively). In the semi-finals, Olympiacos will face the winners of the Dinamo KRASNODAR vs TJ OSTRAVA duel. The Russian team have gained the lead after a 3-1 victory in the first match, with the second coming up on Thursday.
Andreas Vollmer, coach of Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen: “It was a very difficult match as we have expected it to be. I think my team has to learn how to play at international level, with the pressure and spectators supporting the opposite team. Our team was just not ready to ignore the opponent fans. The first two sets were catastrophic for us with a lot of pressure and zero mistakes from Olympiacos. I want to wish good luck to Olympiacos for the next stage of the Challenge Cup.”
Tess von Piekartz, captain of Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen: “We approached this game very confidently, but fairly soon we realised that even if we gave our best we couldn’t keep up with the performance of Olympiacos.”
Branko Kovacevic, coach of Olympiacos SFP PIRAEUS: “The first set was by far our best performance in my time with this team, we played really amazing, especially in blocking, service and defence. For sure Sm’AESCH Pfeffingen are not as bad to lose 25-4 but I think they were more stressed than usually. I want to thank our fans that made a really great atmosphere. With this kind of atmosphere here on home court, we cannot lose any match.”
Saskia Hippe, player of Olympiacos SFP PIRAEUS: “I am very happy that we are in the semi-finals. It’s a great achievement and we are looking forward to being successful just like we were last year. Tonight we all knew our goal and we were all very concentrated and focused on this. I want to thank our fans, they were amazing today, they pushed us to success as they always do in this kind of games!”
BURSA BBSK on course to retain their crown
Titleholders BURSA BBSK are vying for their third crown in the last four seasons in this competition and they have not dropped a single set in six matches they have contested this far.
Merve Ikbal Albayrak, player of BURSA BBSK: “It was a good game and we are obviously very happy with our progression to the semi-finals.”
Frederik De Veylder, head coach of Hermes OOSTENDE: “We were not good enough to make it difficult for BURSA. It was nevertheless a great experience to play here.”
For more details about the CEV Challenge Cup click here.