15/01/2014 22:13
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel stuns TOURS VB in straight-set away victory
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Tours, France, January 15, 2014. Though they were cheered on by more than 2,700 fans at the Robert Grenon stadium, the home heroes of TOURS VB did not live up to the very high expectations of their supporters and lost in straight sets their first Playoffs 12 game to Poland’s JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel (16-25, 24-26, and 19-25). This means TOURS VB will have a very tough task to cope with next week in Poland in order to progress to the Playoffs 6 of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men.
The start of the game was already not that promising for TOURS VB that quickly trailed 1:4; on the other hand, the guests from Poland showed excellent blocks and performed strong also from the service line to make it 4:8 at the first technical time-out. Michal Kubiak was the man leading the way for JASTRZEBSKI (6:12) as Wegiel scored a few aces to move the score up to 9:16 at the second mandatory stop. TOURS VB did not find their way back into the game and the first set was quickly gone (16-25).
The score was very close in the early phases of the second set (6:6) with TOURS VB leading the way by the slimmest margin at the first technical time-out (8:7). Once more JASTRZEBSKI did respond with a few terrific blocks to flip the charts around (8:10) but TOURS VB was able to keep their pace this time and Kamil Baranek called for the second technical stop at 16:15 for the hosts. However, TOURS VB made a way too many mistakes from the service line to get the right edge and in the end lost also the second set after a very close race (24-26).
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel set the pace of the game right from the start of the third set (1:4) and they did not slow down leading the way quite comfortably at the first technical time-out (4:8). TOURS VB could not manage to fight their way back and the guests from Poland were up by six points halfway through the set (10:16). However, the hosts woke up and their reaction – though late – could briefly revive the hopes of the home fans (16:18). However, that was only for a short while as TOURS VB captain David Konecny received a yellow card after protesting against the decision of the referee (18:21) and JASTRZEBSKI sailed comfortably to the 19-25 that sealed their straight victory.
“We did not play good at all tonight” commented TOURS VB head coach Mauricio Paes. “We really need to fight our way back and fix many things if we want to continue our adventure in the CEV Volleyball Champions League.”
“We did not play our best but still this was enough for taking the match tonight” said the Italian-born mentor of JASTRZEBSKI, former Volleyball star Lorenzo Bernardi. “However, we still need to pay attention and wait for the reaction of the French team next week when we host TOURS VB in Poland.”
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