24/03/2015 23:55
TRENTINO claim first round of CEV Cup semis after tie-break battle
2015 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Poland, March 24, 2015. After more than two hours of world-class Volleyball and a dramatic fight, Italy’s Energy T.I. Diatec TRENTINO seized the first round of their semifinal fixture with Poland’s Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE by 3:2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-27, 19-17) to get the right edge for the return game coming up on Saturday and where a spot for the final stage of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men will be attributed.
The start of the match set the tone for what was going to follow with a series of terrific actions on both sides of the net. Jurii Gladyr claimed an early 4:2 lead for Zaksa before a spike by Matey Kaziyski restored the balance at 7 all. Filippo Lanza scored the next rally for the Italians to call for the first technical time-out and with some brilliant serving, targeting especially Michal Ruciak, TRENTINO widened their lead to 12:8. Kay van Dijk performed well for Zaksa but Kaziyski & Co. continued to display their class and the visitors moved the score up to 18:14. Two spikes killed by van Dijk reduced the hosts’ gap down to two points but some mistakes in defence paved the way with gold for TRENTINO that wrapped it up at 25-20.
The second set started in the right way for TRENTINO with Kaziyski and Martin Nemec scoring again and again for a 7:4 lead. Zaksa could keep their deficit relatively narrow via van Dijk (8:10, 11:13) and TRENTINO continued to set the pace of the game up to the second technical time-out (16:14). Zaksa responded with some great actions by their outside spikers and also with their middle blocker Jurii Gladyr. An ace by Dick Kooy finally levelled the score at 18 all and a mistake by Kaziyski prompted the first lead for the home side since the start of the set. The coach of TRENTINO, Radostin Stoytchev, got a yellow card for delaying the resuming of the match and after some more closely contested rallies, Kooy finished it all off at 25-21 for the provisional 1:1.
The match then moved on to the third set where similarly to the previous one TRENTINO claimed an early lead (6:3, 8:6) and kept on holding on to it for 15:11 and 20:15. The fate of this set seemed already determined but eventually Zaksa succeeded in a terrific comeback closing their gap to only one point (23:24) after a block on Lanza. However, that same player (pictured) was the one who scored the next rally to seal the final 25-23 for TRENTINO.
Zaksa was off to a terrific start in the fourth set (3:0, 6:1) but after a time-out asked by Stoytchev, TRENTINO got back on track (9:8). Zaksa responded once more with some brilliant actions by their Dutchman Kay van Dijk who contributed a fairly comfortable lead for the home side (15:11). This, however, was not yet enough to outdo the strong and experienced Italians who fought back to 16 all. A close race unfolded later on and even though Zaksa got up by 22:19, an error by Dick Kooy contributed the 22 all. Both teams had a chance to bring this set home but in the end it was Zaksa to prevail at 27-25.
The emotions continued up to the very end of the match. The Italians jumped ahead in the tie-break (3:0) but Zaksa stormed back to level the score at 5 and 7. TRENTINO then claimed a three-point lead (10:7) but again this was not enough to wrap it up as the visitors needed as many as four match balls before they could start the party at 19:17.
“We lost the match but we showed nerves of steel,” said the coach of Zaksa, Sebastian Swiderski. “We also showed that TRENTINO is within our reach and we will try to exploit our chance to take our revenge on Saturday in Italy.”
“Zaksa played with a lot of determination and glowing hearts tonight,” commented TRENTINO’s mentor Radostin Stoytchev. “This match was almost as difficult as the one we played last Saturday in the national league with Parmareggio MODENA.”
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