11/12/2019 23:23
#CLVolleyM home teams win when not up against Leon
CEV Champions League Volley 2020 - Men
Luxembourg, December 11, 2019. Following up on yesterday’s first second-leg matches, Fakel NOVY URENGOY was hosting BERLIN Recycling Volleys, without Benjamin Patch, injured, in what was the northern most match in the history of the CEV Champions League, before Slovenian champions ACH Volley LJUBLJANA welcomed Kuzbass KEMEROVO in the same pool (B), and the Poles of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel made their debut in the competition against Halkbank.
However, the best was yet to come as Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA dominated TOURS VB in the Match of the Week and Zenit KAZAN travelled to Belgium to face Greenyard MAASEIK in what proved to be the most closely fought contest of them all.
All three early matches ended up with the same result, a win for the hosts. In the first encounter, Fakel was pushed by the two national team outsides, Dmitrii Volkov and Egor Kliuka (MVP), who scored 32 points together. The second one was the tightest as Kuzbass KEMEROVO, the 2019 champions of the Russian Superleague, fell short of claiming this away game with even one match point in the tie-breaker, but eventually lost due to unforced errors. Finally, the third match ended quickly in favour of the Polish team with a strong performance by Jakub Bucki and Christian Fromm with 14 points a piece.
Later in the night, the top match between TOURS VB and PERUGIA was set off on a great start with a thrilling 32-30 for the Italians. Despite being up five points in this first set and having two set points, the French lost it to the squad led by Wilfredo Leon. The next two sets were easier for Vital Heynen’s men as they won them 19 and 18. Ukrainian lefty Oleh Plotnytskyi signed off an outstanding performance with 18 points, including 7 break points.
The final match of this nice evening finished at gone 11pm, with the brilliant victory of Greenyard MAASEIK over six-time Champions League winner Zenit KAZAN. Even if Verbov’s players started off well, claiming the first two sets, the home team played incredible volleyball to win it in five, mainly thanks to MVP captain Jelte Maan (20 points). Pushed by a vibrant crowd, the Belgian team inflicted the first loss to the giants in this CEV Champions League, repeating their feat one week after being down 0-2 to Halkbank in Ankara. Earvin Ngapeth, who played half the match, and his team are now placed last in Pool C.
Match by Match:
ACH Volley LJUBLJANA (SLO) vs Kuzbass KEMEROVO (RUS) 3-2 (25-23, 25-16, 25-27, 23-25, 19-17)
Statements:
"Tough game today, but luckily we managed to win. We left our heart on the court. It's a shame we didn't win the third and fourth sets, we were so close, but we didn't serve and receive as good as we did in the first two. The Russians found their game and moved us further from the net. Still, here are big two points, that nobody expected, but us players and the whole team we believed in the victory."
Jan Pokeršnik (Player, ACH Volley LJUBLJANA)
"The sets were very close, and they could have gone either way or the match could have ended 3-0. Statistically, we were pretty close in all aspects, but we were a bit better in reception, which made it possible for our setter to play his game and we were a big threat to them until the end."
Matija Pleško (Head Coach ACH Volley LJUBLJANA)
Fakel NOVY URENGOY (RUS) vs BERLIN Recycling Volleys (GER) 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-17)
Statements:
“I am glad that we won 3-0 and quite confidently, but we made a lot of mistakes. It is very good that inside the team no one bowed his head, as it was in Kemerovo.”
Egor Kliuka (Player and MVP, Fakel NOVY URENGOY)
“We did not succeed in the first match of the Champions League in Kemerovo and we needed to find back our game and forget this loss. Today we very confidently beat a good team. Our game in attack and on the block became the main reason for this victory.”
Camillo Placi (Head Coach, Fakel NOVY URENGOY)
“We acted very well in the first set, we saved a lot of balls. But still, our attack was not so good. In the second set, we began to play more aggressively, but then something happened, and we lost concentration. There was a very bad percentage in attack and with such numbers it is very difficult to play against Fakel.”
Cedric Enard (Head Coach, BERLIN Recycling Volleys)
“We ourselves created a difficult situation, from which we later could not get out.”
Moritz Reichert (Player, BERLIN Recycling Volleys)
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel (POL) vs Halkbank ANKARA (TUR) 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-21)
Statements:
"First of all I want to congratulate JASTRZĘBSKI Węgiel and Slobodan Kovać who is one of the best coaches in the world. I had the possibility to work with him in the past and together we won three titles. I hope he will win a lot of trophies in Poland. We started the match in a very bad way with a number of mistakes, especially with our service. And the power of Węgiel is service and block and we suffer a lot in our side-out. In the third set, we fought a little bit better, but anyway we lost."
Atik Taner (Head Coach, Halkbank ANKARA)
"We played very well and we did what we had to do and we absolutely deserved this win. In my opinion, we were much better in every element and it was a clear victory.”
Christian Fromm (Player, JASTRZĘBSKI Węgiel)
VC Greenyard MAASEIK (BEL) vs Zenit KAZAN (RUS) 3-2 (20-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-22, 20-18)
Statements:
“If I have to rate this victory on a scale from 1 to 10, I guess it will be around 10. It’s been an amazing win, an amazing fight. The fact that we saved a match point in both our Champions League games, proves that we somehow find a way to fight. We also have to thank the guys coming in from the bench. They did a really good job.”
Jelte Maan (Player, VC Greenyard MAASEIK)
TOURS VB (FRA) vs Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA (ITA) 0-3 (30-32, 19-25, 18-25)
Statements:
"Against this kind of team you have to play hard all the time and not give up any opportunities. The learning of the high level is done on these games. It takes a lot of effort to move from being a "good team" to a "very good team"."
Hubert Henno (Head Coach, TOURS VB)
"The first set was difficult for us, we had difficulties to score, but we were focused on trying to find our best game again. TOURS VB was pretty close in the first set and they pushed us hard."
Wilfredo Leon (Player, Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA)
Click here for further information on CEV Champions League Volley 2020.
|