Luxembourg, October 31, 2018. Poland’s Budowlani ŁÓDŹ, Germany’s Allianz MTV STUTTGART and France’s ASPTT MULHOUSE VB cruised to straight-set home victories over Hungary’s Swietelsky BÉKÉSCSABA, Nethrelands’ SLIEDRECHT Sport and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo BRČKO, respectively, on Wednesday to advance comfortably to the third round of the 2019 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women. The three losing teams of these second-round clashes will cross over to the 2019 CEV Volleyball Cup competition.
Budowlani ŁÓDŹ (POL) vs. Swietelsky BÉKÉSCSABA (HUN) 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-17)
• In the second-leg encounter between these two teams, Budowlani scored their second victory in as many matches.
• Despite the straight-set scenario, in each of the sets the lead changed hands between both teams.
• Budowlani’s superstar Jovana Brakocevic-Canzian was the best scorer of the game. She recorded 19 points. Her teammate Jaroslava Pencova impressed with six aces and four kill blocks.
• Nikoleta Perovic scored 17 points to top the charts on Swietelsky’s side.
• In the third round, Budowlani will face France’s ASPTT MULHOUSE VB. Swietelsky BÉKÉSCSABA, on the other hand, will continue their European journey in the 2019 CEV Volleyball Cup.
Jaroslava Pencova, player of Budowlani ŁÓDŹ: “We are very happy. We won in three sets. It was a short game. We always had it under control. It’s a great pleasure to play in front of our fans. They are amazing and helped us a lot today. On Friday the Polish league will start and we will have a lot of matches, but we are now charged with positive energy.”
Allianz MTV STUTTGART (GER) vs. SLIEDRECHT Sport (NED) 3-0 (25-7, 25-12, 25-22)
• Allianz came out with all guns blazing and took an early 8-3 lead with Julia Schaefer serving. The home team made very few mistakes on the way to a 25-7 landslide, while SLIEDRECHT had difficulties in all aspects of the game.
• In front of 1,485 spectators at the SCHARRena, Allianz continued to dominate to gain a 7-1 advantage in the second set. Coach Ioannis Athanasopoulos started changing his starting line up to give all his players time on the court, and it paid off with another emphatic set win – 25-12. At this stage, the hosts had already secured their qualification to the next round.
• The home team’s celebration started too early and in the third set SLIEDRECHT were finally getting into rhythm and defended boldly. A nice game developed, with Jana-Franziska Poll ending the match at 25-22 with an attack from the right side.
• SLIEDRECHT Sport’s Christie Wolt was the best scorer of the match with 10 points and the only one on the court to reach double digits.
• After winning both matches in the series in straight sets, Allianz MTV STUTTGART advanced to the third round, where they will measure up to Romania’s 2018 #CLVolleyW silver medal winners CSM Volei Alba BLAJ for a spot in the pool stage.
Kim Renkema, Sports Director of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “We were even more focused compared to our first match in Sliedrecht. I liked the fact that we were able to give Jana-Franziska Poll and Sarah Wilhite time on the court to expose them to our rhythm of the game. This is very important before our important match in three days – for the national cup Round of 16 against DRESDNER SC.”
Ioannis Athanasopoulos, coach of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “Before the match I told my team to forget everything that had happened before. We started at 0-0 and had to fight for every ball. They did this very well. But I still see a lot of things that we need to improve. In the first two sets, SLIEDRECHT didn’t push us that much, so we could not test as much as I wanted.”
ASPTT MULHOUSE VB (FRA) vs. ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo BRČKO (BIH) 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-23)
• The match did not start well for the home side as Jedinstvo managed an early 7-2 lead. The powerful attacks by Hayley Spelman and Alexandra Frantti allowed ASPTT MULHOUSE to come back. Some incredible serving of Carli Snyder produced two aces on the way to a 25-21 close of the first set much to the delight of the 2,200 spectators on the stands.
• ASPTT MULHOUSE VB suffered quite a lot through the second set, but managed to hold on to their early advantage. Always putting up a good fight, the Bosnians looked very determined and took a lot of risks from the serving line, but the home team won by 25-20 to secure their qualification for the next round.
• The third set was very tense. With nothing left to lose, Jedinstvo fought bravely and frequently caught up with the hosts on the scoreboard. After 23-23, Spelman delivered the match point and Snyder’s excellent serve led to a 25-23 win.
• Hayley Spelman was the best scorer of the game with 18 points. Natasa Slijepcevic scored 15 times to lead the chart on Jedinstvo’s side.
• ASPTT MULHOUSE VB will play against Poland’s Budowlani ŁÓDŹ for one spot in the pool stage of the Champions League.
Magali Magail, coach of ASPTT MULHOUSE VB: "We faced a determined Bosnian team. They took a lot of risks, especially in serving. Our players had a good match and got the job done. We won and that’s the most important."
Smail Pezerovic, coach of ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo BRČKO: "We met a good team from Mulhouse, stronger and more experienced. Our team is young and has seven players under the age of 18, but we fought hard. This experience in the Champions League allowed our players to compete at the highest level."
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