13/01/2015 22:28
Atomic girls determined to seize the night in CEV Cup quarter-final top fixture
2015 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women
Sopot, Poland, January 13, 2015. PGE Atom Trefl SOPOT will be playing on Wednesday their first match in the quarter-finals of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup – Women. On Monday they travelled to Italy in high spirits after outclassing Impel WROCLAW, Poland’s vice-champions, in the last round of the ORLEN Liga. Their upcoming opponent is Prosecco Doc-Imoco CONEGLIANO, a team that last year made the Playoffs 12 in the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League.
The Atomic girls flew to Italy after completing their last practice at Ergo Arena where they were joined also by Brittnee Cooper and Deja McClendon, the two US girls who had missed the ‘big match’ with WROCLAW as they were still recovering from minor injuries. Even though they were lacking their support, the Atomic girls cruised to a speedy straight-set victory over WROCLAW.
“Our mood, morale and self-confidence have grown after this victory so we have travelled to Italy in high spirits,” says outside spiker Klaudia Kaczorowska. The match with WROCLAW confirmed that the players around head coach Lorenzo Micelli have found the consistency they have been lacking in previous matches. This may be crucial also for the upcoming matches with CONEGLIANO where SOPOT will be trying to book their spot in the Challenge Round of the CEV Volleyball Cup.
“We realise that this first game with CONEGLIANO is really important since we can’t afford losing here,” says team captain Izabela Belcik. “Only one team will make the next round, and the one losing will end its European adventure here. That is why I think we have to perform our best also in the first match here in Italy.”
Prosecco Doc-Imoco CONEGLIANO is currently ranked fourth in the Italian national league with a record of eight victories and five losses. SOPOT, on the other hand, sits in third place in the ORLEN Liga with 12 wins and only three setbacks so far. CONEGLIANO will be side-lined by the absence of their starting setter, Alisha Glass, who is currently injured and will be replaced by Marina Katic. Glass sustained a serious injury and even though the Italians have recruited another American setter, Micha Hancock, the latter won’t be available for the first match with SOPOT since – like Trefl’s latest recruit, Falyn Fonoimoana – she is currently attending a winter camp organised by USA Volleyball for players likely to join their national team.
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