Luxembourg, February 25, 2020.  Zenit Saint Petersburg wasted a two-set advantage upon their visit at Hypo Tirol AlpenVolleys Haching before edging their hosts in the tie-breaker of the first leg of the quarterfinal series between the two teams in the men’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2020.

After 125 minutes of play at a sold-out Sportzentrum am Utzweg in Unterhaching, the Russian team outraced their German opponents on the way to a 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 15-11) victory. At his first appearance in front of a German audience after quitting the national team, Zenit’s German opposite Gyorgy Grozer top-scored 22 points, including two of his team’s 14 stuff blocks, towards the victory. AlpenVolleys’ French outside Jerome Clere tallied 20 points, while his Canadian teammate Jerome Cross marked his international debut with a great performance and 18 points. The return game in Russia is on March 3.

Stefan Chrtiansky Sr, head coach of Hypo Tirol AlpenVolleys Haching: “Today we fought in a really tough match. Our team, especially Cross, showed that we are still strong, even while missing our best player Paulo Costa da Silva. We hope to take this positive energy to the next game in the German league on Saturday.”

Gyorgy Grozer, opposite of Zenit Saint Petersburg: “It was a great game! We started strong. We won the first two sets, but then we stopped playing in our heads. AlpenVolleys played well and did not make many mistakes. Then, in the fifth set we stayed calm to win the match. The crowd was really great and fascinating.”

For more info, go to the CEV Cup 2020 section.