14/03/2012 19:21
Politechnika ends winning streak of Tomis CONSTANTA
2012 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men
Constanta, Romania, March 14, 2012. Tomis CONSTANTA suffered this afternoon its first defeat in this season’s European Cups losing the first semifinal match of the 2012 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup to Poland’s Politechnika WARSZAWSKA 2:3 (20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 18-25, 11-15).
The guests set the pace of the game for most of the opening set even though the score stayed extremely close (8:7, 19:18) before they accelerated right by the final rush to pocket it with the score of 25-20. Tomis started out very well in the second set going up 11:5 via the attacks of Juan Carlos Blanco and Laurentiu Birau. However, Politechnika was able to catch up and turn the tables around (15:18) with a stellar performance of opposite Pawel Mikolajczak. Tomis then drew level at 19 all before a block of Florin Voinea and a service of Marin Lescov finished it off at 25-21.
CONSTANTA dictated the rhythm of the game also in set 3 (8:6, 13:10) before Politechnika went up by the narrowest margin at the second technical time-out (15:16). Tomis then got back on track (23:20) and Kenyan Philip Maiyo stood out while sealing the 25-23 and the provisional 2:1 for the hosts.
Politechnika WARSZAWSKA displayed a perfect performance in the fourth set (3:8, 8:13, and 12:19) to wrap it up at 18-25 and call for the tie-break. Tomis started poorly there trailing 5:8 and 8:12 before attempting a comeback (10:12) but eventually the guests from Poland could pocket the game with the final score of 2:3 (11-15).
“This was a very important victory as now we are halfway to make it to the final. We are always very strong at home and we evidently hope to claim also the return game in Poland” says the assistant coach of Politechnika, Jakub Bednaruk. “I am very happy with this win and even though we are not yet qualified for the final, I still hope we’ll win also the next game this weekend in Warsaw” adds the German star of Politechnika, Patrick Steuerwald.
“I think it was a great game and in the last set we found it difficult to come back from 4 points down. Anyway we go to Poland to score a win as I think that everything is still possible” stresses the head coach of Tomis CONSTANTA, Jorge Cannestracci. “Politechnika deserved to win and now they have a very good chance to make it to the final” concludes Tomis captain Radu Began.
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