Luxembourg, February 26, 2020.  Russia’s Lokomotiv Novosibirsk managed a straight-set home victory over Belgium’s Lindemans Aalst in the first of Wednesday’s first-leg quarterfinals in the men’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020. Later on Galatasaray HDI Istanbul won the all-Turkish clash with Arkas Izmir in four sets and Italy’s Leo Shoes Modena mastered an away shutout of France’s GFC Ajaccio. In all three of these match-ups, the return games are to be played on March 4. 

Lokomotiv Novosibirsk pleased the fans at home in Russia with a 3-0 (27-25, 25-16, 25-16) shutout of Belgium’s Lindemans Aalst. The visiting side started well in defence and gained in the score. Even after Lokomotiv came back and took three or four-point leads, the Belgians continued to battle and kept close behind, led by a strong Jeroen Oprins in both serving and spiking. They even denied a double set point for the opponents and stepped up front with a set point of their own at 25-24, but the Russians rushed back with three in a row to a 27-25 close with Marko Ivovic spiking the winner with a back-row hit. In the next two sets coach Plamen Konstantinov’s squad showed their superiority on all counts. Lindemans kept fighting hard, but managed to stay afloat only halfway through each of the sets. In the second halves Lokomotiv widened the gap, each time to a 25-16 win. At the end of the match, Aleksey Rodichev crowned his good performance with two aces in a row to stamp the victory. He shared the honours of Lokomotiv’s best scorer with Pavel Kruglov and Marko Ivovic, each contributing 11 points to their team’s success. Lindemans’s Jeroen Oprins was the top scorer of the match with 17 points to his name.

Plamen Konstantinov, head coach of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk: "In the first set, we attacked less because we were trying to size up the opponents and find out what their strong and weak sides are. Then we added to the offence and made a comfortable difference in the score. I am pleased with those who subbed in; they played with great desire. Let's see what will happen in the second leg in Belgium. The difficulty will be that the time difference is six hours. The game will begin at 2:30 AM Novosibirsk time and end around five in the morning. It will be hard."

Pavel Kruglov, opposite of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk: "Some of our players have minor injuries. Today, before the game, the coach said that he would let everyone play. Most importantly, everyone came out with a good mood, with emotions. Yes, in the beginning there were difficulties, but then we played for fun and we won thanks to positive emotions. The main thing is the result."

Johan Devoghel, head coach of Lindemans Aalst: "The first set was difficult and, unfortunately, we lost it. The opponents crushed us with a powerful serve. After that, we were not able to conduct the attacks the way we wanted. The injury of our player did not affect the outcome of the match, since at that moment the game was already decided. We currently have many injured, but we hope that everyone can help in the home game. We hope that our fans will help us too, so we can act better on the court. We were pleased to play in Novosibirsk and really enjoyed the game with Lokomotiv. This is a club with a great history!"

Seppe Van Hoyweghen, setter of Lindemans Aalst: "Lokomotiv has a very strong serve. In the first set, we dealt with it, but then we didn’t succeed, and we could not return to the game. For the first time I have had such a long flight; this is my first trip to Russia. I was impressed by the large amount of snow here! There is absolutely no snow in Belgium. In the home game, we hope to play more aggressively, primarily on the serve."


Galatasaray’s Selcuk Keskin and Lucas Van Berkel on the block against Arkas’s Yigit Gulmezoglu

Turkey’s Galatasaray HDI Istanbul came back from a set down against compatriots Arkas Izmir to claim a 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 25-19) victory. The first set was very tight and it was Arkas that reached set point first and, on their second, they closed it off at 26-24, with as many as nine points from Adis Lagumdzija. On the contrary, Arkas had the only three-point lead (at 17-14) in the hard-fought second set, but it was Galatasaray that emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins. The nip-and-tuck battle continued into the third set. After several switches in the lead the side that made a lot fewer mistakes, the home team, escaped with a 25-22 win. Early into the fourth set, Arkas maintained a slight advantage, but after 7-7 it was all about Galatasaray. With Oliver Venno spearheading their attack, they built nicely to a 25-19 close. Arkas’s Adis Lagumdzija was the best scorer of the match with 23 points to his name. Burutay Subasi contributed 18 to Galatasaray’s win, with another 17 scored by Oleg Antonov.

Italy’s Leo Shoes Modena celebrated with a 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-22) victory in a tight match at France’s GFC Ajaccio. The more prolific serving of the Italians made the difference in a very hard-fought first set. While their Polish outside Bartosz Bednorz kept the fire burning at the net in both spiking and blocking, the squad from Modena aced five times towards the narrow 28-26 win. They were well in control through most of the second set to double their lead with a comfortable 25-21. Ajaccio stepped up their spiking efficiency in the third set, but only enough to keep the gap within the three-point range. Unfortunately to them, at the end of the set the gap was three points in favour of Leo Shoes, whose sub-in Tommaso Rinaldi hit eight offensive points towards the 25-22 win. Bartosz Bednorz (13 points), Rinaldi (11) and Ajaccio’s Aleksandar Milivojevic (10) were the only scorers to reach the double digits in the match.


For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 section.