18/01/2012 23:04
Partizan loses home five setter to Zaksa to say farewell to European elite
2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Men
Beograd, Serbia, January 18, 2012. Partizan Termoelektro BEOGRAD concluded tonight its campaign in the prelims of the 2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League by losing a close match to Poland’s Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE 2:3 (25-23, 18-25, 25-20, 23-25, 16-18).
Partizan opened with a slow pace (5:8, 13:16) but eventually turned the score around with the help of Aleksandar Minic and Nikola Mijailovic to bring it home at 25-23.
Things changed in the second set as Zaksa changed rhythm (6:8, 12:16, 16:22) after changing setter and opting for Grzegorz Pilarz. The guests comfortably took the set 18-25 before the home guys clipped the next section of the game in 25 minutes delighting their home crowd with excellent blocks and a good defense.
Zaksa showed strong nerves in a close final rush of set 4 (23-25) calling for the tie-break where Partizan got a match ball at 14:13 after a rally finished by Nikola Mijailovic; however, the guests did not lose composure and could finally celebrate their win in five sets. Partizan’s Aleksandar Minic top scored tonight with 24 points while Sebastian Warda totaled 18 for Zaksa.
“We did not expect such a resistance from Partizan, but they had nothing to lose and played in front of a great audience” says Ukrainian Serhiy Kapelus, who plays for the side from Poland.
The mentor of Partizan, Milan Djuricic, was not too disappointed: “I think we played well and we have left a good impression after this campaign in the Champions League. We were assigned to a strong group but we provided all opponents with good resistance. Tonight we just lacked a little luck to take the game”.
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