Luxembourg, February 20, 2020. France’s Volero Le Cannet, Germany’s SSC Palmberg Schwerin and Poland’s Grupa Azoty Chemik Police claimed three-point away victories in their first-leg quarterfinal matches in the women’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020, while Russia’s Dinamo Kazan were quite emphatic at home against reigning trophy-holders Unet e-work Busto Arsizio of Italy.
Volero Le Cannet took a solid advantage ahead of their second-leg home fixture with Belarus’s Minchanka Minsk, member of the Russian Superliga, on March 4. Volero’s Russian opposite Anna Lazareva hammered out as many as 29 points (including three aces and four blocks) towards a 3-1 (25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 25-16) victory. Bulgarian outside spiker Eva Yaneva (main picture above) added another 17, while Katsiaryna Sakolchyk top-scored 19 for Minchanka. While Volero were well in control for the most part of sets one, two and four, thanks to superior offensive efforts, the third set was a rollercoaster ride with the spikes of Sakolchyk making the difference and tilting the outcome in favour of Minchanka. The home team were guided by coach Viktar Hancharau, who returned to action after recovering from health problems.
Viktar Hancharou, head coach of Minchanka Minsk: “The opponents dismantled us very well. But we had a chance to fight. The first reason why it did not work out is our huge number of technical errors, the kind that the team on the other side does not allow. Second, the players did not perform the tactical settings, which we analysed on the eve of the game and prompted during the match. Therefore, it turned out such an uneven game. While in the Russian league we can resist at the expense of power and strength, on European level Volleyball is a little faster and smarter. Therefore, European players are better prepared tactically than ours, which was demonstrated today. Therefore, our task, playing in two leagues, is more difficult - we must work according to both schemes - be smart and powerful.”
Lorenzo Micelli, head coach of Volero Le Cannet: “In the third set we let Minchanka put pressure on our reception, we showed worse level of serving and stopped moving on the court – that was the reason why we didn’t cope with the situation well. The fourth set was difficult as we needed to recover mentally but we managed to win it like we did in the first two sets. But I want to thank and congratulate the girls as they did it and we could reach a well-deserved victory.”
Volero’s Anna Lazareva about to serve
The expectations of a big battle between Russian powerhouse Dinamo Kazan and defending CEV Cup titleholders Unet e-work Busto Arsizio of Italy proved unfounded as the Tatari team pleased the home crowd with an emphatic 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-20) victory. Only in the beginning of the second set the Italians managed to stay afloat for a while, but after 8-8, Dinamo embarked on a 17-4 run towards a 25-12 landslide. Teammates Bethania De La Cruz from the Dominican Republic and Samanta Fabris from Croatia contributed 16 points each to share the top scorer honours of the match. The return match in Busto Arsizio will be played on March 4.
Sergey Sikachev, assistant coach of Dinamo Kazan: “Today, our serves were literally flying. Due to the serves and our defence, we managed to disrupt and ruin the fast game of our rivals. We prepared for the game very carefully, as this team has much stronger players than our previous opponent Saugella Monza. Yes, today we played well, but that is not the end. Everything will depend on the second game in Italy.”
Evgeniya Startseva, captain of Dinamo Kazan: “The game was hard. Certainly, you would not say so looking at the score but you saw yourselves, what a heated fight that was. We spent lots of emotions and strength today and I am very glad that we took three points, but the most interesting things are still ahead.”
Stefano Lavarini, head coach Unet e-work Busto Arsizio: “My congratulations to Dinamo Kazan! They showed a truly great performance today. Physically they were super fit! That was one of the most important aspects in the match. We failed to show our level today but I hope that at home we will be faster in attack, stronger, and better in blocks. And I hope that at home we will manage to win and make it to the next round.”
Karsta Lowe, player of Unet e-work Busto Arsizio: “Today, we did not show the level we usually play at. We are very upset about that, because we know that we can play better. But we will train hard for the next match.”
Dinamo’s Bethania De La Cruz blocks a shot by Unet’s Haleigh Washington
SSC Palmberg Schwerin lost the first set at Asterix Avo Beveren by a solid margin, but came back for the next three to snatch a 3-1 (16-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-13) victory, a handy advantage before they welcome the Belgians to Germany on March 3. In the first set, Palmberg could not handle Asterix’s serves well and made many unforced errors, which the home side capitalised on to take a 25-16 win powered by middle blockers Marlies Janssens and Silke Van Avermaet. With the German offensive, spearheaded by USA’s McKenzie Adams, performing on a much higher level in the second half of the second set, Palmberg levelled the match. Set three was very competitive through 19-19 when the away team broke away to a 25-21 close. Their great blocking effort in the third set continued into the fourth and it was all about the German team – 25-13! Palmberg’s opposite Louisa Lippmann was the best scorer of the match with 17 points, followed by teammates Adams and Hungarian outside Greta Szakmary with 15 each.
Spectacular dig by Palmberg’s Greta Szakmary
Grupa Azoty Chemik Police was met with little resistance by Mladost Zagreb, the first Croatian women’s team to reach a continental quarterfinal in over 20 years. The Polish team needed only 68 minutes to master a 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-16) victory over their hosts at the Dom Odbojke Bojan Stranic in the Croatian capital and stay calm before the home game on March 3. Cuban outside spiker Wilma Salas Rosell produced 19 points for Chemik to top the charts of the match.
Sasa Ivanisevic, head coach of Mladost Zagreb: “We are satisfied, especially with the first set. I think we have presented ourselves really well and did as we had planned. We lost our momentum a bit in the second and the third sets, but this is also where the opposing team's individual qualities stood out much greater than ours, as we are all aware of. So in the end, this was a good lesson for us. We will continue our hard work and prepare for the rematch because nothing is final yet and we have an away game to play in Poland.”
Iva Jurisic, captain of Mladost Zagreb: “The opponents were very good. For us it was a good match. The opponents are a team with a good system. They play really fast. We looked very good in some moments, but in others, unfortunately, we lost our momentum. I hope we will be better prepared tactically for Poland and we will play much better. That will be our chance to show what our team is really made of and how much more we could do.”
Ferhat Akbas, head coach of Grupa Azoty Chemik Police: “I am very happy that we played a good game in Croatia. The opponents were a good team with high capacity and young players. They have great potential, but we have used our experience and we are focused on going to the finals of the CEV Cup. So we did not worry about our opponents; we just focused on our game and it was very successful. We have a good advantage before the next game, which we will be hosting, so we will try our best to go to the semifinals.”
Martyna Grajber: captain of Grupa Azoty Chemik Police: “Perhaps we expected a more difficult game than we had today, because we saw the girls on video and they are talented for sure, but very young. So in the future they will surely have a great career.”
Chemik’s Wilma Salas Rosell about to hammer the ball
For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 section.