04/12/2013 23:51
Tauron MKS delivers good performance but tie-break is fatal in re-match with Volero
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland, December 4, 2013. After losing last week in Switzerland, Poland’s vice champions really wanted to take their revenge in the second match with Volero ZÜRICH that marked also the CL debut of their young Italian-born mentor Nicola Negro. Coming from a very disappointing start of the season, Tauron MKS DABROWA GORNICZA played a good game but eventually lost at the tie-break to their Swiss opponents (26-28, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, and 9-15).
The home side stormed out to a 6:2 lead in the first set but the Swiss champions responded by leveling the score at 6 all. The game was very close before Tauron MKS profited of some errors by their opponents to make it 17:14; though it looked like the fate of the set was almost written, Volero responded by clawing back to eventually seize it at 26-28. After a very close start, Tauron MKS got to the front in the second set (14:10) as Volero was not displaying their best game making a lot of errors. Dragutin Baltic tried to change that negative trend by stopping the game twice and even though the Swiss cut their deficit to only one point (21:20), Tauron MKS this time did keep cool and finished it off at 25-21.
After another long neck-to-neck race, Rachael Adams scored two aces to claim a small break in the third set for Tauron MKS (20:17); still this was not enough as Volero scored four in a row to get a set ball that was eventually cashed with a spike by Laura Unternährer. The fourth set followed a similar plot but this time it was Tauron MKS that had the upper hand in the end. The tie-break started with Volero claiming a 4:0 lead before the hosts fought back to draw the score at 5. After switching sides of the court, Tauron MKS ran out of fuel so Volero could comfortably cruise to their second victory in the competition.
“We played much better than we had done last week in Zurich; today we fought from the start up to the end and we did never give up” said Tauron MKS captain Elzbieta Skowronska after the match. “Unfortunately in the tie-break our reserves were gone and we did not have enough strength anymore” stressed libero Krystyna Strasz.
“Of course I am not satisfied with the final score but I am happy because we played as we wished and had agreed while taking on a very strong opponent. Tonight we gave everything we had” said Nicola Negro.
“With the inputs from their new head coach Tauron MKS played much better than they had done last week in Switzerland” added Volero mentor Dragutin Baltic. “It was a nervous and tense game with a lot of mistakes. In the end we won because we wanted it more.”
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