Trento, Italy, March 28, 2015. Energy T.I. Diatec TRENTINO secured a spot in the final of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men after edging once more, as it had done last Tuesday in Poland, Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE by 3:1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18). It was a great volleyball night at the Palatrento with two fantastic outside spikers, Matey Kaziyski and Dick Kooy, standing out for TRENTINO and Zaksa, respectively, and incredible serving streaks.
The team of Radostin Stoytchev confirmed its superiority and set the pace of the game since the beginning. Thanks to this win, TRENTINO became the second participant in the final, scheduled for the second week of April. That will be its fourth European Cups final, having won the Champions League three times in a row, between 2009 and 2011. Kaziyski and his teammates pocketed the ticket to the double encounter with Russia’s Dinamo MOSCOW, showing great performance in blocking (11 kills) and serving (13 aces).
TRENTINO started well into this important game in front of its excited home crowd of 2,300 spectators and pocketed the first set by 25-17 with 3 aces from Matey Kaziyski. Zaksa’s offensive began in the second section of the game and the match became an exciting confrontation from the serving areas. The Poles eventually sealed the second set by 25-23. The pressure probably affected the concentration of the visitors from Poland, who tried to replicate the high efficiency in attack from the home match with Kay Van Dijk and Dick Kooy, but their effort was not enough to win the game. The Italian standout went on to win the third set by 25-22 and the fourth by 25-18 to triumph as a finalist.
The best scorer of the match was Matey Kaziyski with 8 aces for a grand total of 18 points, followed by the remarkable performance of middle blocker Martin Nemec, who scored 17 points. On the other side, Van Diijk and Kooy led their teammates with 17 and 14 points, respectively.
“I am happy for this victory,” stated TRENTINO’s coach Radostin Stoytchev. “I think we deserved this qualification for the final. We fought until the end, with strong fervour. I want to say ‘thank you’ to the team, because we played three complicated matches in the last seven days, and that was anything, but easy. Now let’s focus on the Italian league and on our next opponent in the final clash, Dinamo MOSCOW.”
“Coming back to Trento is always nice, especially for me, as I played here last here. We tried and did our best to close the gap and come back. We did it in the second set, but eventually Kaziyski made the difference, like at our home match in Poland. Congratulations to the winners - they deserved the ticket to the final,” said opposite player Kay Van Dijk.
The first leg of the CEV Cup final is scheduled to take place on April 7 in Trento and the second one on April 11 in Moscow.
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