Luxembourg, September 23, 2020. The 1st Round of the new season of Europe's premiere club volleyball competition, Champions League Volley, entered its second match day for both men and women's competitions, with teams either achieving qualification or getting a step closer to the next round. With no less than six matches taking place today throughout Europe, plenty of things to go over as we look back on an action-packed day. 

All matches from the 1st Round of the CEV Champions League Volley are streamed live on CEV's EuroVolley.TV!

CEV Champions League Volley Men

Pool A

After the forfeit of Mladost Zagreb and the points of the already scheduled matches being granted to the other participating teams, the Pool A tournament taking place in Croatia became a battle between two clubs only, with Fino Kaposvar VC and Erzeni Shijakut to be facing each other twice for a spot in the 2nd Round.

• A dominating performance by Fino Kaposvar VC gives them the first chance for qualification to the next round ahead of tomorrow's second match.
• Vitalii Melnikov from Fino Kaposvar VC was selected as match MVP after scoring 17 points, including 5 aces and 2 winning blocks.

Pool B

OK Ribola Kastela had to forfeit the first match of the tournament taking place in Galati, Romania, due to not having the COVID-19 test results before the start of the match, so today's encounter was the opening game in Pool B, a decisive one for them if they were to keep any hopes of qualifying. However, Ford Levoranta Sastamala proved to be the better team on the day and will now look to face C.S.M Arcada Galati with a spot in the next round up for grabs.

• Aaro Nikula from Ford Levoranta Sastamala was named man of the match after managing 18 points and as many as six winning blocks.
• Ivan Cikojevic was OK Ribola Kastela's most prolific player with 7 points.
  

Pool C

After losing the opening match of the tournament taking place in Poland, despite a good performance, Stroitel Minsk was hoping for a different result today against Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn. However, a second defeat means they are out of the qualification race with Apeldoorn and Jastrzebski Wegiel facing each other in yet another decisive match.

• Maikel van Zeist, Middle Blocker of Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn scored 11 points overall, having 89% effectiveness in attack (8/9), with an added two block-points and one ace.
  

• Jeffrey Klok, Libero of Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn had 68% of positive reception in this match
• Siarhei Akulich, Opposite of Stroitel Minsk was today the best scorer of his team, gaining eight points overall 

Post match reactions

“It was a difficult match. We saw yesterday’s game and we knew that the team from Belarus is a good-serving team. The difference we made today was our defense. We had this fighting spirit that no balls were touching the ground. From the second set also our serve was going really well. We put pressure on them. I am happy that we are going to play some sort of final for a spot in the next round,” said Jeroen Rauwerdink, Outside Hitter of Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn.

“Unfortunately, after this loss we have no chance to move on to the second round. It is a bit disappointing, but in my opinion we were too nervous today and in yesterday’s game we played against an excellent team. It’s pretty hard to play good volleyball for two days in a row. So we made too many mistakes. We just need to learn something from our loss,” said Vadzim Pranko, Middle blocker of Stroitel Minsk.

CEV Champions League Volley Women

The women's competition gave us the Match of the Day, between Vasas Obuda Budapest and Dinamo Moscow, and with very valuable players on both sides, this was definitely a match that volleyball fans were very excited about. Russian powerhouse Dinamo Moscow and Hungarian Cup winners Vasas Óbuda agreed to play only one game in their 1st round Champions League tie in Budapest, Hungary.  The game was hosted by Vasas with spectators, but with a mandatory temperature check for everyone entering the venue and strict mask-wearing regulations. 

• The Russian team was the clear favourite of the game and started the first set accordingly. Dinamo, led through their star opposite Nataliya Goncharova bagged the set relatively easily (25-13)
• Even though Vasas Óbuda was missing three players, including their captain, Sanja Popovič-Gamma, they attacked much more bravely in the next set and caused a lot of troubles to their opponent. Vasas came close, but it was the Russian side and Goncharova who came out victorious again, with a powerful spike from the opposite (25-23).
• Vasas fought hard in the third set as well (25-17), but as expected, Dinamo showed no mercy, won the third set and advanced to the 2nd round of the Champions League, while Vasas Óbuda will continue their European journey in the CEV Cup. 

Post match reactions

Jakub Głuszak, head coach Vasas Obuda Budapest: “Our biggest goal was to play bravely and enjoy the chance to play against a team like Dinamo. It was the first official game of our season, but still, in my opinion we made way too many mistakes. We have one and a half week until the start of the national league, we hope to recover our injured players and prepare the best way we can for the start.”

Zeljko Bulatovic, head coach Dinamo Moscow: “We knew our opponent, we knew their strengths and weaknesses. Generally we can be satisfied, although in the second set Vasas Óbuda came close to surprise us as we made too many mistakes and they played really good volleyball.”

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