10/02/2015 11:35
Final Four hosts keep an eye on much anticipated start of Playoff round
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Berlin, Germany, February 10, 2015. The hosts of this year’s CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League men’s Final Four tournament, Germany’s BERLIN Recycling Volleys, will follow very closely the Playoffs that are set to start later tonight as 12 teams start their chase for one of the three highly-coveted tickets available to join the last stage of the competition scheduled for March 28-29 at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Germany’s capital.
For further information on the Final Four tournament visit the official website and Facebook page available here below:
http://berlin2015.br-volleys.de/index.php/en/
https://www.facebook.com/CLfinal4
It does not come as a surprise that Europe’s Volleyball strongholds – Russia, Poland and Italy – are all represented by three teams each in the knock-out phase of the competition, with one team from Germany, Romania and Turkey completing the line-up.
The Playoffs 12 will get underway on Tuesday night with the ‘Match of the Week’ which is also a remake of last year’s gold medal match (see picture) starring Russia’s Belogorie BELGOROD and Turkey’s Halkbank ANKARA. Romania’s champions Tomis CONSTANTA already wrote history by making the Playoffs for the first time and will have a demanding task as they take on 2013 gold medallists and Pool B winners Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK of Russia.
The domestic arch-rivals of the BERLIN Recycling Volleys, VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, have also made the Playoffs and are set to take on Poland’s Asseco Resovia RZESZOW. This is the first time that these teams are crossing their ways in the European Cups, and the match at ZF Arena will be something special for Resovia’s opposite Jochen Schöps and setter Lukas Tichacek, who won the CEV Volleyball Champions League back in 2007 wearing the shirt of the team from the Lake of Constance.
Another interesting duel will see Poland’s champions PGE Skra BELCHATOW play Italy’s Cucine Lube TREIA, ‘last-minute’ qualifiers to the Playoffs where they replaced the organisers of the Final Four. There is another clash starring Polish and Italian teams coming up this week as last year’s bronze medallists JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel take on rookies Sir Safety PERUGIA. The remaining Italian team still in the competition, Copra Volley PIACENZA, will have a high mountain to climb as they play Zenit KAZAN with the Russian champions being the only side that did not drop one set in their six League Round matches.
|