Treviso, Italy, January 14, 2015.  A match of the highest level was played on Wednesday at the Palaverde between the Italian Panthers of Prosecco Doc-Imoco CONEGLIANO and the Polish Atomic Girls of PGE Atom Trefl SOPOT.  In this first-leg match of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women quarterfinals, the home team came out on top by 3:1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-21, 25-13).

In the first set the home team was always ahead, despite having to make do without their injured American setter Alisha Glass, replaced by the Croatian Marina Katic.  With shots from Neriman Ozsoy and a great dig, the squad from Conegliano reached a 25-20 win.  The second set was balanced before Atom Trefl broke away to 10-7 with aces from Maja Tokarska, and then to 17-13 with some great blocking.  In the end, Lorenzo Micelli's team won the set by 25-21.  In the third set, Prosecco Doc-Imoco, with a super Emiliya Nikolova (7 points), with the blocks of Jenny Barazza and the aces of Rachael Adams, took a good 15-10 advantage in the middle phase and then kept ahead of the Polish team.  The Italian Panthers closed the set at 25-21.  Led by veteran Jenny Barazza, the home side took a 12-7 lead in the fourth set.  Katarszyna Zarolinska tried to answer, but the home team did not slow down.  Emiliya Nikolova and her teammates dominated the set and closed it at 25-13.

Katarszyna Zarolinska was the best scorer of the match with 26 points for Atom Trefl, while Bulgarian Emiliya Nikolova was the winning squad’s main scoring weapon with 22 points.

Lorenzo Micelli, head coach of Atom Trefl:  "We played well only in two sets, then we did not play and we made a lot of mistakes.  The team from Conegliano played a great match, maybe the best of the season.  If in the return match they play this well and we do not grow, it will be very difficult for us."

Nicola Negro, head coach of Prosecco Doc-Imoco:  "Congratulations to my players!  Great match!  We stopped their strong serve and played well from a strategic point of view.  Now, in the away match, we have two results out of three to go through.  We hope to continue like this."

The return match in Sopot is on Thursday, January 22.

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