Luxembourg, February 21, 2019. Minchanka MINSK celebrated on Thursday their first victory in the pool stage of the 2019 CEV Volleyball Champions League. The national champions of Belarus, supported by the local fans,  defeated in four sets RC CANNES. The French team won the first set by the mind-boggling score of 46-44. After this early setback, MINSK completed their comeback for a 3-1 victory. In the sixth and last leg of the competition, the Belarusian team will host Budowlani ŁÓDŹ, while RC CANNES will play against Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA in Italy, with the latter team already qualified for the quarterfinals.

• The first set was the longest people can recall in the CEV Volleyball Champions League. It lasted 53 minutes. Minchanka trailed 4-8, but drew level at 14-all. The game was incredibly equal so that by the end of the set (46-44 for RC CANNES) the two teams made the same number of mistakes.
• In the first set, the coaches used all of their chances to resort to the Challenge System. At the crucial moment, when Viktar Hancharou questioned a French attack, he was proved wrong and the set ended in favour of the visitors.
• Minchanka made some key substitutions in the following set - Vera Salikova was replaced by Anastasiya Shash while middle blocker Nadzeya Stoliar joined the game in the third. The coach of the French team made a number of substitutions too, but none of them could change the course of the game.
• Nadzeya Stoliar took a lot of risks from the service line, eventually producing two aces. Moreover, her aggressive attacks resulted in a 56% success rate at the end of the match.
• Hanna Hryshkevich, the “dark horse” who did not play in the first game in Cannes, became a real surprise for the opponents and scored as many as 25 points for Minchanka.
  
  

Aksana Kavalchuk, captain of Minchanka MINSK: “The first set was very emotional, but the support from the stands helped us a lot and we found the strength to show a high-level performance in reception and defence.”

Viktar Hancharou, head coach of Minchanka MINSK: “Today I was limited to one starting six, but I am grateful to the team that were able to get together and complete the comeback. The first set was too tense and, after it, we felt confident in our abilities. We were able to knock out such a strong opponent especially by causing problems to their receivers. In the third set we came out strong and broke their game with the help of Nadia Stoliar. Now my task is to get the team back on track before the next game.”

Myriam Kloster, captain of RC CANNES: “It was a difficult game, especially as we played very bad in reception. We have no excuses; we have to cope with this loss and move on.”

Alessandro Orefice, assistant coach of RC CANNES: “Tonight it was difficult for us to complete the side-out and to do well in reception. We made many mistakes with our service, and it was difficult to stop their middle blockers. Minchanka did a good job tonight. Our team was tired because of travelling so extensively, and we have had a lot of matches lately. Despite everything, we congratulate Minchanka MINSK on their victory.”