29/10/2013 23:31
CONEGLIANO wins much anticipated derby with BUSTO ARSIZIO
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Busto Arsizio, Italy, October 29, 2013. Italy’s rookie Prosecco Doc-Imoco CONEGLIANO continues to make headlines in the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League after edging also last year’s bronze medalists Unendo Yamamay BUSTO ARSIZIO to follow up on last week’s home victory over Turkey’s giant Galatasaray Daikin ISTANBUL. This time the players around head coach Marco Gaspari edged their countrywomen 3:1 (25-13, 25-22, 22-25, and 25-17) to claim the leadership in Pool E.
Some 3,000 fans came together at the Palayamamay for the much anticipated Italian derby that was supposed to highlight the second round of the prelims. CONEGLIANO was paced by their Bulgarian player Emiliya Nikolova who registered 23 points in the end and well marshaled by their American setter Carli Lloyd who found the right tempo especially with opposite Valentina Tirozzi. CONEGLIANO also stood out with their blocks – 18 in the end – and even though Unendo Yamamay came back after a slow start, that was not enough to stop the run of their compatriots. Young opposite Marika Bianchini was the best player for the hosts in their losing effort with 17 points – including 3 aces.
Nikolova paced Imoco in the first set registering 10 points all alone as Unendo Yamamay was evidently struggling with their reception. The second set seemed to follow the same plot but Marika Bianchini was able to keep the score tight for the home side that fought back from 12:16 to 17:16 on a serving turn by Anne Buijs. Still Tirozzi was on fire in the final section and could contribute the 2:0 for Imoco. In the third set the hosts played their best game with Giulia Leonardi standing out in defense while Buijs and Francesca Marcon attacked with good consistency (25-22). Bianchini got Unendo Yamamay on track right from the go of the fourth set (7:2) but CONEGLIANO exploited the many mistakes made by the hosts with Nikolova, Lloyd and Jenny Barazza paving the way for the final 3:1.
“Maybe we felt a little bit of tension in the early phases of the game and this means we still need time to find the right chemistry. We need to minimize the black-outs we are suffering from time to time” Unendo Yamamay team captain Francesca Marcon said. “We responded well in the third set but CONEGLIANO played a great game and you can see that Carli Lloyd has already found the right tempo with their spikers”.
“We need to give some more time to this team which is new and has to learn a lot, and especially needs to find a way to deal with the moments where things are not working as they should” said home mentor Carlo Parisi. “I regret that we lost the second set so badly but we recovered and we played a good third set”.
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