23/01/2014 16:57
Siberian “Cats” fight back to claim golden set victory and a spot among the top six
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Omsk, Russia, January 23, 2014. Russia’s rookies Omichka OMSK REGION fought their way back after losing the first round of the Playoffs 12 in Italy and started their comeback by winning the return game with Prosecco Doc-Imoco CONEGLIANO in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, and 29-27) and then also the golden set that followed (15-10) to qualify to the Playoffs 6 and play there Turkey’s Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL. This is a terrific achievement for the team from Siberia’s second largest city that is making their first appearance in the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League.
Omichka dominated the scene from the start up to the end of the match anchored by their superstar Natalya Mammadova who was supported by wing-spiker Nancy Carrillo and middle-blocker Elena Yureva, while Anastasia Shlyakhovaya and Iuliia Kutiukova did a great job in serving and reception respectively. The home heroines delighted 4,800 fans – a crowd which confirmed Omsk as the most visited venue in Europe in matches of the Women’s Champions League.
Omichka will be playing Eczacibasi at home first and then go for the return game in Turkey, hoping to crown their already memorable campaign with a ticket to the Final Four Tournament that is scheduled for March 15-16 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“We played very bad and it was difficult to stand the quality showed by Mammadova” commented CONEGLIANO head coach Marco Gaspari. “We especially struggled in defense and from the service line.”
“It was a very bad game for us” added team captain Raffaella Calloni. “If you do not play good in reception, you do not stand a chance against world-class players like those of Omichka. If we only had served better than we did, than we would have stood a chance to win. I think that Omichka is in the position to win also the Playoffs 6 tie with Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL” she concluded.
After RebecchiNMeccanica PIACENZA lost yesterday to Volero, all Italian teams are eliminated from the competition and for the first time since 1983 – back then the competition was known as Champions Cup – Italy won’t be represented in the Final Four Tournament.
“We played much better than we had done last week in Treviso while our opponents served really bad” said Omichka head coach Zoran Terzic. “We played with the right attitude and I always was confident that we would have won in the end. We have showed that we are a strong team and that we also can stand the pressure for we had to come back after losing last week in Italy. Now we will have a couple of very tough matches with Eczacibasi. We will play relaxed because I know we have good chances to make the Final Four. Anyway, since we are participating in the Champions League for the very first time this year, I think we already did a great job by claiming a spot for the Playoffs 6.”
“We won a very difficult match, especially from a psychological point of view” stressed Omichka team captain Elena Yureva (Hendzel). “We started out really strong and we showed a very good performance in all fundamentals. I really love when our fans stand up and start cheering on us by calling the name of our team, it really helps us a lot. Our supporters are now waiting for the next matches and we look forward to hosting Eczacibasi here in Omsk.”
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