09/02/2014 21:06
Resovia confident about their chances to win return game with JASTRZEBSKI
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Rzeszow, Poland, February 9, 2014. Though they lost last Wednesday in straight sets to their compatriots of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel, Poland’s champions Asseco Resovia RZESZOW are still confident they can qualify to the Final Four Tournament of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men. They will first have to claim the Playoffs 6 return game coming up on Tuesday by 3:0 or 3:1 and then also the golden set that would follow at the Podpromie sports hall in Poland’s Volleyball “Mecca”.
Last Wednesday JASTRZEBSKI claimed the first round of this Polish derby in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, and 25-23) but the match was very close and hence everyone expects a very thrilling game on Tuesday. Poland’s champions believe they can come back strong after this defeat and in order to achieve this goal they also rely on their always passionate supporters.
“It will be a very interesting match” says Asseco Resovia team captain Aleh Akhrem. “We do not want to surrender after this away defeat and are confident we will have the upper hand in the end. I also believe that our fans will be our seventh player on the court. We must show our best game and in the end the better side will win” he adds.
The Polish derby already epitomized last week the essence of volleyball for it brought together the fans of JASTRZEBSKI and Resovia in a very friendly atmosphere, where all supporters cheered on their respective heroes but in a fair way. The fans of Resovia and JASTRZEBSKI impressed the players as they wore some scarves especially produced for this derby and that featured the corporate colors of both teams.
“Volleyball is one of very few sports where you can get to see this, i.e. fans of two teams that respect each other, as our supporters and those of Resovia have showed last week” says the team captain of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel, Michal Lasko.
The teams just got the right boost of confidence from the last round of the national league where they beat their respective opponents – Effector KIELCE for JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel and AZS CZESTOCHOWA for Resovia – in straight sets. The head coach of Resovia, Andrzej Kowal will once again not be able to count on his libero Krzysztof Ignaczak who is still injured and opposite Dawid Konarski will also miss the re-match with JASTRZEBSKI. Ignaczak will be replaced by Bulgarian-born wing-spiker Nikolay Penchev and by the only 17-year old libero Mateusz Maslowski while Wojciech Grzyb will take the spot of Konarski.
Though he will be missing two of his starting players, head coach Kowal is still confident that Resovia can win the return game and qualify to the Final Four Tournament: “We must play better than we did last Wednesday and do so in all fundamentals. This is the game where we have to show our best side.”
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