Luxembourg, September 22, 2020. A new season of Europe's premiere club volleyball competition, the CEV Champions League Volley, kicked off today after a much awaited break caused by the ongoing Covid-19 situation that lasted over six months. With both the men and the women's 1st Round matches starting today, although in different formats, with the men playing a tournament format and the women playing home and away matches, the excitement of volleyball fans across Europe and beyond was understandable.

Savino del Bene Scandicci vs Tent Obrenovac 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-17)

The excitement of being the first match of the new season of the CEV Champions League Volley was shared between Savino del Bene Scandicci and Tent Obrenovac, with a clear win for the Italians that sees them go into the return match of tomorrow with a boost of confidence.

Here's what the two coaches had to say after the match:

Massimo Barbolini, coach Savino Del Bene Scandicci: “Considering that we will play tomorrow we must understand that we have to be careful because as soon as we backed off a little they made up for it straight away. They will certainly continue to take many risks with their service as they did today. We have to be good at picking up the pace and breaking away when the time comes. The difference between us and them is there, but we do not have to relax. I am satisfied with the performance of the girls, the opponents are young but they have shown that they can play good Volleyball.”

Milan Grsic, coach Tent Obrenovac: “First of all I want to congratulate Scandicci. In my opinion we were too nervous. The home team is more experienced and smarter. We did not have a chance to win, but we tried. If I look at the game I can be satisfied for today. I hope tomorrow we will be more relaxed and play better.”

• Savino's German opposite, Kimberly Drewniok was the Top Scorer of the game with  15 points, 3 Aces and  40% attack percentage.
• Also from Savino del Bene Scandicci, Austrian Srna Markovic scored 14 points with an impressive 48% attack percentage.
• First match of the new season saw the young Agnese Cecconello make her debut in the Champions League, managing to score five points.
  

Stroitel Minsk vs Jastrzebski Wegiel 0-3 (25-27, 24-26, 14-25)

In the men's competition, the season opener was the first match of Pool C, taking place in Poland, between Stroitel Minsk from Belarus and Jastrzebski Wegiel from Poland. Coming out of this first match with a win that would get them in the driving seat for qualification into the next round, was not easy for the Polish side, as Stroitel fought hard, especially in the first two sets hoping to cause an upset.

For the team from Belarus, there's no time to dwell over the loss, as their second match of the 1st Round tournament is scheduled for tomorrow, 23 September, when they will face Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn of the Netherlands. 

Post match reactions:

“It was not an easy game. We started the match maybe with a little pressure and the team from Minsk played a good game tonight. The final result is the most important and we are happy that we started the competition like that,” said Yacine Louati, outside hitter of Jastrzębski Węgiel.

“I can say that we played good two sets. We were leading in both of them, but the opposing team is experienced and they decided both of those sets in their favour. In the third one we were not so good, we lost the tempo. So more or less we are satisfied, because we played against one of the best teams in Europe, but we still have some stuff to work on and improve,” said Vadzim Pranko, Middle blocker of Stroitel Minsk.

• Jastrzebski's Moroccan opposite, Mohamed Al Hachdadi was the Top Scorer of the game with 19 points on his debut for the club. Fellow debutants on the night were libero Szymon Biniek and Middle blocker Patryk Cichosz-Dzyga - as well as head coach Luke Reynolds.
  
• Also from Jastrzebski, Yacine Louati (3 Aces) and Jakub Popiwczak (48% reception) were among the standout performers.
• Pavel Audochanka with his 13 points was the best scorer for Stroitel Minsk.
  

The 1st Round of the CEV Champions League Volley continues tomorrow and all matches can be seen live on EuroVolley.TV!

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