Luxembourg, February 7, 2020. The quarterfinal match-ups in the women’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020 and the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2020 have been determined as the second-leg eighthfinal matches were played this week across Europe. On two occasions, the winners emerged dramatically after golden sets, and in one of them it was the defending 2019 CEV Cup trophy-holders, Unet e-work Busto Arsizio of Italy, who survived risky challenge.
CEV Cup
The squad from Busto Arsizio (pictured) had shut out Developres SkyRes Rzeszow at home in the first leg, but in the second got stunned by their Polish opponents with the same result. With the help of seven aces and eight kill blocks, coach Stephane Antiga’s team delivered a hard-fought 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 27-25) upset to prompt a golden set. However, the Italians put their act together in the decider and disappointed the home crowd in Rzeszow with a 15-11 win. Unet e-work’s opposite Karsta Lowe topped the charts scoring 18 times during the four sets played.
Things will not get any easier for Unet e-work Busto Arsizio’s as they will have to face Russian powerhouse Dinamo Kazan in the quarterfinals. The Tatarstani team hammered out their second win in the eighthfinal series againsth another Italian side, 2019 Challenge Cup winners Saugella Monza. At the Candy Arena in Monza, Dinamo claimed a 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-20, 25-20) victory to advance.
A total of 11 sets had to be played to finally settle the series between Mladost Zagreb and Fatum Nyiregyhaza. The Croatian squad had lost the first match in Hungary in five sets, but in the second, at home in Zagreb, they drew even in a 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 23-25, 15-8) drama, with Bozana Butigan contributing as many as nine kill blocks towards the win. The golden set that followed proved to be a nail-biter too, but eventually the home crowd rejoiced with a 19-17 win for their favourites after observing a three-hour Volleyball battle. In the next round, Mladost will challenge Polish standout Grupa Azoty Chemik Police who dropped only one set in their series against Sanaya Libby’s La Laguna – in their second-leg 3-1 (25-27, 25-22, 25-17, 25-23) victory in Spain.
The second match of the all-Belgian clash between Asterix Avo Beveren and Hermes Rekkenshop Oostende was ill-suited for the faint-hearted, even more so than the first one. While two weeks ago Asterix had to come back from a 1-2 deficit on the way to a 3-2 victory, this time, on their home court in Beveren, they were two sets down before climbing back to another 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-9) win on a team total of 13 aces, and celebrating with a ticket to the quarterfinals. Coming up next for the Belgian side is a team from neighbouring Germany. SSC Palmberg Schwerin managed another four-set victory over Finland’s Hämeenlinna, this time at home by 3-1 (25-15, 25-15, 16-25, 25-12). Nicole Oude Luttikhuis piled up 25 points, including six of Palmberg’s 16 aces.
Minchanka Minsk and Volero Le Cannet will face each other in the quarterfinals. Having produced straight-set wins in the first eighthfinal leg, they built upon it with away victories in the second to progress. The Belarusians came up with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 22-25, 25-15) success at Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo Brcko, while the French team delivered another shutout – 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-20) – of Switzerland’s TS Volley Duedingen.
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup eighthfinals were way less eventful than those in the CEV Cup. No golden sets were played and only in one of the match-ups the losing team from the first leg managed to come up with a win in the second. Not only that, Greece’s AO Thiras Santorini mastered a 3-1 (27-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-17) home victory over Kanti Schaffhausen, more than enough to make up for the five-set defeat in Switzerland two weeks ago. In the quarterfinals, Thiras will lock horns with Dresdner SC. Having won their first-leg game in three sets, the German team claimed a 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 25-27, 25-14) away win at Romania’s Stiinta Bacau in the second.
The other Greek team in the competition, Olympiacos Piraeus, managed another four-set victory over Russia’s Yenisei Krasnoyarsk, this time at home (25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 26-24) with the help of 16 stuff blocks. For a spot in the semifinals, Olympiacos will battle it out with Hungary’s Swietelsky Bekescsaba who produced a 3-2 (22-25, 25-16, 25-21, 23-25, 15-12) home win over Calcit Volley Kamnik after winning their first encounter in Slovenia in straight sets.
Similarly, Beziers VB built upon a straight-set first-leg success with a five-set second-leg win. Upon visiting Finland’s Pölkky Kuusamo, the French squad disappointed the home crowd with a 3-2 (25-19, 27-25, 20-25, 24-26, 15-11) victory on a 26-point contribution from Dayana Segovia. On the way to a quarterfinal clash with Beziers, Germany’s Ladies in Black Aachen scored a second four-set win over Sm'Aesch Pfeffingen – 3-1 (25-27, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21) in Switzerland.
THY Istanbul hammered out another emphatic victory over Romania’s C.S.M. Lugoj. At home in Turkey, coach Marcello Abbondanza’s team crushed the opponent by 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-17) to go against their quarterfinal rivals of Austria’s ASKO Linz-Steg who passed through their eighthfinal match-up with Turkey’s Beylikduzu Voleybol Istanbul by forfeit.
The first leg of the quarterfinals in both competitions is scheduled to take place from February 18 through 20, and the second leg is set to be played from March 3 through 5.
For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 and the CEV Challenge Cup 2020 sections.