28/02/2019 00:31
Both Polish teams in Pool D - on to the next round!
2019 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Men
Luxembourg, February 27, 2019. Both Polish teams in Pool D of the 2019 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Men finished off with straight-set victories in the last leg and booked their tickets to the quarterfinals. Having already secured the top spot in the final standings, Trefl GDANSK mastered a 3-0 away win at Belgium’s Greenyard MAASEIK. PGE Skra BELCHATOW managed a hard-fought home victory over BERLIN Recycling Volleys in straight sets to save a shot at making it among the best eight as well. Following the dramatic turn of Pool B events in Civitanova, Skra also celebrated with a spot in the next round.
PGE Skra BELCHATOW (POL) vs. BERLIN Recycling Volleys (GER) 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 31-29)
• Jakub Kochanowski, one of the starting middle blockers of PGE Skra, could not play because of a back injury.
• It was another great game of the Estonian opposite of PGE Skra, Renee Teppan. He played that good also during the previous game against BERLIN Recycling Volleys in Germany. Teppan top scored with 23 points.
• PGE Skra played the game mostly with only one middle blocker. There were sections of the game when David Fiel Rodriguez was on, but he is still recovering from injury.
• It was the first game after a long break attended by PGE Skra President Konrad Piechocki. He was out until mid-December because of health problems.
• Sergey Grankin, an Olympic champion in 2012, could not play for BERLIN since earlier this season he wore the shirt of Dinamo MOSCOW in the competition.
• It was the first official game of Samuele Tuia (BR Volleys) in Energia hall after leaving PGE Skra. President Piechocki awarded the French outside hitter with a special gift.
Sebastian Kühner, captain of BERLIN Recycling Volleys: “It was a very tough game. In all three sets, we had two-point differences. In the first set, we started better but PGE Skra came back and won. In the second one, we played again a very long set and PGE Skra turned out to be the better side. In the third, they served very well and it was very difficult to play for us. Congratulations to the team from Bełchatów.”
Milad Ebadipour, outside hitter of PGE Skra BELCHATOW: “It was really a great and tough game. We had only one middle blocker left. It was a very difficult situation for us and that was the reason why we played in such a strange line-up. We have shown that we can play much better, we still do not know if we are going to play in the next round because we have to wait for the results of other teams. I hope we will not leave the CEV Champions League because we want to still show good Volleyball and give our best.”
Greenyard MAASEIK (BEL) vs. Trefl GDANSK (POL) 0-3 (20-25, 21-25, 21-25)
• This was the first 0-3 loss by Greenyard MAASEIK on home soil in the Champions League in 10 games. In December 2016, Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE, another Polish team, was the last to defeat the team from Maaseik by that score.
• Middle blocker Patryk Niemiec helped create an early 7-2 gap in the first set. Estonians Timo Tammemaa (with two aces) and Keith Pupart (with a kill block) kept Greenyard close until 12-14, but Maciej Muzaj propelled the Polish side to a comfortable 25-20 set win.
• The second set was a much closer fight through 19-20, only to be decided by Muzaj with a strong finish for 25-21 Trefl’s way.
• Trefl’s coach Andrea Anastasi sent six substitutes on the court and they wrote the same story in set 3. After 16-16, Bartlomiej Mordyl, Wojciech Grzyb and Milosz Hebda blocked away to help their squad through to another 25-21 close.
• Greenyard’s Timo Tammemaa and Jolan Cox made 12 points each to become the best scorers of the match. Trefl’s Maciej Muzaj contributed 11 points and was named MVP of the game.
Seppe Baetens, outside hitter of Greenyard MAASEIK: "It’s disappointing to lose this last game, especially by 0-3 at home, but we spoiled our chances earlier, when we didn’t convert our match point against BERLIN Recycling Volleys in the fifth leg.”
Maciej Muzaj, opposite of Trefl GDANSK: "With the first place already in our pocket, we could play freely and in fact we made it a very good practice game.”
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