Luxembourg, February 3, 2020. With the second leg in the eighthfinal stage of the women’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020 and CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020 scheduled to take place this week with 15 matches in 13 different countries on the continent, by the Thursday evening of February 6 all quarterfinalists in the two European Cup competitions will have become known.
CEV Cup
The game between Mladost ZAGREB and Fatum NYIREGYHAZA set to start at 20:00 local time on Wednesday at the Dom Odbojke Bojan Stranic in the Croatian capital is probably the most intriguing one in CEV Cup competition this week. The first-leg match in Hungary was the only one that finished after five sets in favour of the home team leaving the overall outcome of the series wide open.
The all-Belgian clash between Asterix Avo BEVEREN and Hermes Rekkenshop OOSTENDE on Wednesday at 19:30 local time is also quite unpredictable. Asterix Avo managed an away victory over their opponents in the first leg, but only after a 16-14 success in a hard-fought tie-breaker.
It will be most interesting to see how last season’s Challenge Cup winners Saugella MONZA will react after losing to Dinamo KAZAN in straight sets in the most anticipated clash of the first leg as they welcome the Russian powerhouse for the return game in Italy on Wednesday at 20:30 local time at the Candy Arena in Monza.
Poland’s Developres SkyRes RZESZÓW seem to be facing an even tougher challenge when they host defending cup-holders Unet e-work BUSTO ARSIZIO for their second-leg encounter at the RCWS Podpromie at 18:00 local time on Wednesday, after being shut out in Italy two weeks ago.
While Germany’s SSC Palmberg SCHWERIN are the only team to have secured a very comfortable (3-1) away win (at Finland’s HÄMEENLINNA) in the first leg and look well on their way to the quarterfinals, in the remaining three series, the first-leg winners, Belarus’s Minchanka MINSK, France’s Volero LE CANNET and Poland’s Grupa Azoty Chemik POLICE, came up with their victories in straight sets, but travel away from home to face not only their opponents of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo BRČKO, Switzerland’s TS Volley DÜDINGEN and Spain’s Sanaya Libby’s LA LAGUNA, respectively, but their faithful home fans as well.
Challenge Cup
With Austria’s Askö LINZ-STEG already holding a pass to the quarterfinals, seven more teams are expected to complete the last-eight line-up in the Challenge Cup this week. The most unpredictable clash of the second leg is the one taking place in Greece on Tuesday (19:30 local time), where hosts AO THIRAS Santorini will try to recover from a tight 14-16 tie-breaker loss to Switzerland’s Kanti SCHAFFHAUSEN in the only five-set match of the first leg.
The other Swiss team in the tournament, Sm'AESCH Pfeffingen, will try to use the home-court advantage to bounce back from a four-set loss at Germany’s Ladies in Black AACHEN in the first leg. The return match in Aesch is on Wednesday at 20:00 local time.
Hoping for a successful home-court completion of their eighthfinal series on Wednesday, after suffering heavy straight-set away defeats two weeks ago, are Romania’s Stiinta BACAU and Finland’s Pölkky KUUSAMO, but up against them are the strong and experienced teams of Germany’s DRESDNER SC and France’s BEZIERS VB, respectively, who only need to win two sets to avoid a golden-set resolution and advance to the quarterfinals.
Greece’s Olympiacos PIRAEUS will play at home on Wednesday with the comfortable feeling of having won the away match in four sets, but also with the not-so-comfortable knowledge that they are up against a representative of the strong Russian Superliga, Yenisei KRASNOYARSK.
The Challenge Cup week will open in Turkey where on Tuesday, at 18:00 local time, THY ISTANBUL entertain C.S.M. LUGOJ after an emphatic three-set win in Romania in the first match. Similarly, in this week’s closing game, on Thursday at 18:00 local time in Hungary, Swietelsky BÉKÉSCSABA welcome Slovenia’s Calcit Volley KAMNIK with a convincing 3-0 away victory at hand.
For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 and the CEV Challenge Cup 2020 sections.