Luxembourg, February 10, 2020. All quarterfinalists in the men’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020 and CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020 are set to become known this week. The 16 second-leg eighthfinal matches in the two European Cup competitions are to be played from Tuesday through Thursday in 12 different countries across the continent.
CEV Cup
The first leg of the CEV Cup eighthfinals produced two five-set matches, and although the winners of those tie-breaks are set to have the additional advantage of playing at home in the second leg, these rivalries seem to hold the most intrigue in anticipation of the final outcome.
On Wednesday, at 19:00 local time, Turkey’s Arkas Izmir welcome Germany’s United Volleys Frankfurt after a 3-2 away win a couple of weeks ago. Three and a half hours later, in Belgium, Lindemans Aalst will try to make the most of their five-set victory in Croatia (pictured) as they entertain Mladost Zagreb for the re-match.
The only other first-leg game that got extended beyond the three sets was GFC Ajaccio’s 3-1 home victory over Mladost Brcko. Now the French side visit Bosnia and Herzegovina for the return game on Wednesday at 19:00 local time and need to win at least two sets to qualify without resorting to a golden-set decider.
In all other eighthfinal series, the winners claimed convincing straight-set victories and seem well on their way to making the last eight of the competition. Russia’s Zenit Saint Petersburg and Montenegro’s OK Budva are set to play in this week’s opener on Tuesday at 19:30 local time in Saint Petersburg after the Russians claimed a 3-0 success on the Adriatic coast in late January. Also on Tuesday, at 19:00 local time in Germany, Hypo Tirol AlpenVolleys Haching will host Barkom-Kazhany Lviv with a 3-0 advantage from their first encounter in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, last year’s finalists Galatasaray HDI Istanbul of Turkey and Italy’s Leo Shoes Modena travel to the venues of their opponents, Romania’s C.S. Municipal Arcada Galati and Czechia’s VK Ostrava, respectively, after shutting them out in their home encounters. Similarly, Russia’s Lokomotiv Novosibirsk take the trip to the Netherlands with a 3-0 win over Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn at hand as they close the competition week on Thursday at 20:00 local time in Apeldoorn.
Challenge Cup
In the only five-setter of the first leg, Unicaja Costa de Almeria managed to defeat hosts Saaremaa VC before they welcome the Estonian rivals to Spain for the return match on Thursday at 20:30 local time, the last game on this week’s Challenge Cup schedule.
BDO Volley Haasrode Leuven need to recover from a four-set loss in Hungary as they host Penzugyor Budapest for the second-leg encounter on Wednesday at 20:30 local time in Belgium. Coming back from a 1-3 defeat looks like a much heavier challenge for Slovakia’s VKP SPU Nitra as they now have to travel to France for the re-match against Rennes Volley 35 on Wednesday at 20:00 local time.
It will be interesting to see if Romania’s ACS Volei Municipal Zalau, Netherlands’ SAMEN. Lycurgus Groningen or Turkey’s Spor Toto SC Ankara will manage to use their home-court advantage in the second leg on Wednesday to bounce back from the heavy straight-set away losses they suffered at the hands of Czechia’s VK CEZ Karlovarsko, France’s Montpellier Castelnau UC and Poland’s Aluron Virtu CMC Zawiercie, respectively, in the first leg.
At the same time, Croatia’s Mladost Ribola Kastela and Czechia’s Kladno Volejbal cz seem doomed after losing their home games in straight sets, but in fact an unlikely but not impossible 3-0 or 3-1 away win in the second leg would let a golden set be the decider. Kladno visit Sporting Club Lisboa for the week’s opener on Tuesday at 20:00 local time in the Portuguese capital, while Mladost travel to Italy for Thursday’s game with Allianz Powervolley Milano, also scheduled at 20:00 local time.
For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 and the CEV Challenge Cup 2020 sections.