28/11/2013 23:11
Volero claims first victory in CL prelims after besting Poland’s vice champions
2014 CEV DenizBank Vollezball Champions League - Women
Zurich, Switzerland, November 28, 2013. The Swiss champions of Volero ZÜRICH claimed on Thursday their first victory in the prelims of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women as they beat Poland’s Tauron MKS DABROWA GORNICZA 3:1 (25-12, 16-25, 25-15, 25-18). Kenia Carcaces top scored for the home side with 26 points while Katarzyna Zarolinska paced Tauron MKS with 12 points. With this result Volero moved up to second place in the standing of Pool F to stay in contention for a spot in the Playoffs.
It was a very important game for Volero as well as for Tauron MKS; the Swiss champions really needed a home victory to bounce back after two straight defeats in the previous rounds while Tauron MKS had traveled to Zurich after parting ways with their coach Waldemar Kawka as a result of disappointing performances in their national league, so all players were feeling enormous pressure on their shoulders. As their new coach Nicola Negro will be with the team only starting from this weekend, it was Kawka’s assistant Leszek Rus who was at the helm of the group tonight in Zurich.
The start of the game was very close (8:7) before Olesya Rykhliuk and Karla Klaric helped Volero break away in the score (19:12). Nothing seemed to work for the guests from Poland and the first set was quickly gone with Volero stamping a terrific 25-12 on the scoreboard.
Tauron MKS fought their way back in the second set going up 9:3 as Volero started making mistakes to pave the way with gold for their opponents. Their head coach Dragutin Baltic – who had come back to Zurich only two weeks ago – stopped the game and decided to send in setter Karine Guerra and wing-spiker Yevgeniya Nyukhalova to try to change the course of the game. Volero could reduce their gap to 14:17 but Tauron MKS stayed focused and finished it off at 25-16 to tie the game in sets.
Volero started much better in the third set (4:1) and controlled the game from the start up to the end with Rykhliuk and especially Carcaces doing an amazing job along the way to a massive 25-15. The hosts stretched their dominance also to the early phases of the fourth set (10:3) but their opponents showed the intention to try to come back. They did so as they reduced Volero’s lead to only one point (11:10) but even though they were feeling the pressure, the home heroines did not lose composure and showed great fighting spirit to complete their run at 25-18 for a much needed 3-1 victory.
Volero assistant coach Timo Lippuner said: “There was a lot of pressure on us before the game. It could be seen from our unforced errors, but we’re happy with this victory. Nevertheless, we have to improve our play for the upcoming games. In my opinion bringing Inès Granvorka into the game helped stabilize our performance and this makes me really happy for she is also a key player of our national team.”
Volero captain Mira Golubovic added: “This was a very important game for us. We want to reach our goals as a team and this victory will be important on our way to accomplish this mission. I think that we have to win games like this if we want to claim second place in Pool F. The game in Poland will be hard for us, but we have to believe in ourselves. I’m sure we can do it.”
Tauron MKS middle-blocker Rachael Adams: “As you can see on the scoreboard there were a lot of ups and downs in our game. We still have to find our rhythm, and this is the reason why we committed as many errors as we did today.”
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