16/04/2013 19:02
Tomis wins national league to claim spot for next Champions League
News from the clubs
Constanta, Romania, April 16, 2013. The Championship series in Romania’s men’s national league was completed on Monday night as Tomis CONSTANTA edged SCMU CRAIOVA 3:2 (21-25, 25-21, 33-35, 25-22, and 15-9) to claim the title as well as a spot to represent their country in the 2014 CEV Volleyball Champions League. The group around Bulgarian-born head coach Martin Stoev swept all of their matches since this past January 1, 2013 with a winning streak of 18 games and losing only 8 sets along their way to the title. After debuting this past season in Europe’s elite competition, Tomis will be celebrating their second appearance in the 2013/2014 edition. This is also the fourth crown in the national league for the club from the Black Sea that had previously topped the charts in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
“This is the first championship title in my career and I am particularly happy” Cuban-born setter and team captain Javier Gonzalez says.
The final series – played with the format “best of five” – did see Tomis open strong with two home wins, first in straight sets (25-19, 29-27, and 25-20) and then by 3:1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-17, and 25-13) to set the tone for the third fixture that was played on Monday in Craiova. SCMU caught a good start there claiming the opening set (25-21) before Tomis returned the favor in the second with the same score. SCMU CRAIOVA pocketed the third set at the end of a real drama (35-33) before Tomis got back on track to impose their quality in the next two sets and finish it off at the tie-break to celebrate a title that the club had been chasing for four years.
“We made many mistakes tonight but the most important thing is that we did not lose composure after missing out on some opportunities in the third set. We could reduce our errors to a minimum in the next two sets and that was the key to our success” head coach Stoev stresses.
“This game was much more exciting than those we had played in Constanta and lived up to the expectations that anyone may have for a final” club president Sorin Strutinsky adds. “I am very glad that after three years we have been able to bring the title back to Constanta. I do wish some more luck than last year for the next Drawing of Lots in the CEV Volleyball Champions League”.
To complete a memorable season Tomis has set another goal, which is to claim also the national cup whose final four is scheduled for April 26-27 in Craiova. There Tomis will be joined by Dinamo BUCURESTI, as well as by Unirea DEJ and Remat ZALAU.
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