11/12/2013 22:18
PARIS Volley cruise to home victory to stay in contention for Playoffs spot
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men
Paris, France, December 11, 2013. On Wednesday France’s PARIS Volley routed Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE in three sets (25-13, 25-19, and 26-24) to claim the leadership in Pool C of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men waiting for the result of the match coming up tomorrow in Montenegro and starring Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA vs. Asseco Resovia RZESZOW of Poland. PARIS Volley has got 11 points after five rounds while Resovia is ranked second with ten, but still have to play their fifth game, so the race for the Playoffs 12 is still very open.
PARIS Volley set the pace of the game right from the start (4:0) and accelerated the pace making it 16:8 at the second technical time-out; their spiker Marko Ivovic was performing really well though sidelined by a sore throat and Dutchman Jeroen Trommel combined good spikes with a very solid performance in reception. Only Tomas Fila was able to score for the Czechs and the set quickly ended in a massive 25-13 for the hosts.
The start of the second set was marked by many unforced errors for both teams so that the score stayed very close up to 9 all. PARIS Volley then got back control of the operations well marshaled by their Spanish setter Guillermo Hernan (16:11); Jihostroj tried to fight back with their middle-blocker Radek Mach – who scored four points in this set – and also tried Petr Michalek to replace 20-year old Petr Sulista. Still this did not change the course of the game and good blocks killed by Ivovic – combined with some more Czech errors – sealed the final 25-19.
Though PARIS opened the third set with an 8:4 run, this was by far the most contested section of the game played on Wednesday night at the Charlety hall. The Czechs claimed the lead (9:10) and so forced PARIS mentor Dorian Rougeyron into a time-out. His guys responded well showing a very good block and defense system and eventually cashed the final 26-24 to the delight of many young students who had come to the stadium to cheer on the local heroes.
“We did not stand a chance tonight” said Czech mentor Jan Svoboda after the game. “PARIS started out very strong and they played very good in defense. We had many problems with our side-out and also to control their high balls, so that in the end we lost in straight sets.”
“This victory is very important for us” said home star Marko Ivovic. “It was an important match and we look forward to next week where we play Resovia in Poland. They have got a strong team but we are going there with the intention to seize the night.”
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