Luxembourg, March 4, 2020.  Volero Le Cannet became the third known semifinalist in the women’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020. On Wednesday evening, the French side defeated Belarus’s Minchanka Minsk for the second time and will face Poland’s Grupa Azoty Chemik Police in the race for the spots in the big final.

Volero produced a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 33-31) victory over Minchanka in the second game between the two sides. After winning the first game by 3-1 in Minsk two weeks ago, the French team finished the job at home, with Serbian outside spiker Bojana Celic top-scoring 18 points, while Russian opposite Anna Lazareva added another 13. Aksana Kavalchuk, also on 13 points, was Minchanka’s most prolific player.

Volero were in control for the most part of the game, with good offence and numerous blocks. After dominating the first two sets, the team from Le Cannet celebrated with the ticket to the semifinals. They made some substitutions for the third set, which proved an epic nip-and-tuck battle decided deep into overtime at 33-31 Volero’s way, which keeps the team undefeated since start of 2020.

Lorenzo Micelli, head coach of Volero Le Cannet: “We played very well in the first two sets. The team has played in the right way since the start of the year. The third set was very nice to win, with our substitutes. They all deserve to be on the court so this was very nice.”

Anton Ivannikau, head coach of Minchanka Minsk: “It was a high-level game. Both teams showed very good Volleyball. It was an emotional game and the third set was unbelievable. The atmosphere at the hall was excellent!”

The semifinals in the women’s CEV Cup are scheduled to take place on March 17 and 24. Volero will travel to Poland for the first match and have the home-court advantage in the second.


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