16/04/2013 14:00
Stiinta BACAU wins Romanian national championship to qualify for 2014 Champions League
News from the clubs
Bacau, Romania, April 16, 2013. After waiting for 8 years, Stiinta BACAU eventually claimed Romania’s women’s national league at the end of a dramatic Championship series versus Dinamo Romprest BUCURESTI and via a 3:2 win in the last game (25-17, 22-25, 25-15, 23-25, and 15-6). After signing some foreign players, Stiinta could edge the opposition brought by the two teams that had represented Romania in this year’s CEV Volleyball Champions League, Dinamo Romprest and 2004 Tomis CONSTANTA.
The most relevant transfer was finalized right before the second half of the regular season as Dutchwoman Kim Staelens eventually moved to Romania to play there for Stiinta. She joined a group that already included some foreign players, such as Argentinean duo Lucia Gaido and Emilce Sosa as well as Bulgaria’s wing-spiker Kremena Kamenova. The remaining players included on the group are all Romanian, with a good share being regular members of their national team. All together they could seize the third title in history for their club, the first since 2005. That was also the third title for their head coach Florin Grapa who has been working with the team from Bacau for the past 25 years.
Stiinta BACAU had finished the regular season in third place, which meant they had to play the last matches of the semis and final round away from home. In the semis with 2004 Tomis CONSTANTA, Stiinta started out with a 3:1 away win before losing 2:3 at home. In a series played with the format “best of five”, Stiinta eventually claimed the next two matches (3:0 and 3:1) to advance to the final. The Championship series started perfectly for Stiinta with two away wins (3:1 and 3:2) in Bucharest, with the second game being cashed after coming back from two sets down and surviving to two match balls for Dinamo Romprest in the third. The third game played in Bacau lasted for more than two hours but eventually Stiinta could pocket another 3:2 win to fire up the home party together with sponsors, fans and the Mayor of Bacau who personally wanted to congratulate all team members. With this result, i.e. by claiming the national championship, Stiinta BACAU got the right to represent Romania in the 2014 CEV Volleyball Champions League and everyone in town can barely wait for Europe’s Volleyball elite to find its way to Bacau.
“This experience in Romania was simply extraordinary for me” Kim Staelens says. “I found some great people here and I am very happy that we could eventually reach our goal and win the title”.
“It is a huge joy for all of us but also for the 2,000 supporters that did attend our third and last match with Dinamo Romprest” middle-blocker Mihaela Herlea adds. “This is the result of our hard work and I am particularly happy with my first title in the national league and can’t wait for joining next year’s CEV Volleyball Champions League”.
“It was a very tough game as we did not want to play another round and the pressure on the girls was just enormous” head coach Florin Grapa states. “We finished it off in 3 matches and that is quite remarkable because we had to stand a very strong opponent. In the past 3 years we always had made the final and we have shown our consistency by qualifying for the last act of the Championship this season too. I think that Stiinta BACAU was the best team in the national league this year and we have showed this. We are already waiting for the DOL of the 2014 CEV Volleyball Champions League and can promise that our home matches here in Bacau will turn into a real Volleyball fiesta” he concludes.
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