22/01/2015 21:21
Golden set shatters dreams of Arkas, Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE through to CEV Cup Challenge Round
2015 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Izmir, Turkey, January 22, 2015. Though they lost the return match with Arkas IZMIR in three sets (20-25, 25-27, 16-25), Poland’s Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE had much to celebrate on Thursday night at Atatürk sports hall in Izmir since they won the golden set that followed the game (15-10) and this way they claimed their spot in the Challenge Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men, joining there Russia’s Dinamo MOSCOW and Belgium’s Volley behappy2 ASSE-LENNIK.
Zaksa had claimed the right edge ahead of this second round by winning their home match last week in three sets. However, Arkas IZMIR was not going to surrender that easily and the hosts were off to a terrific start powered by their gargantuan Canadian opposite Gavin Schmitt and by Cuban Leonel Marshall (8:3, 16:12). Their only 19-year old setter Yigit Gülmezoglu also played superbly and Arkas eventually pocketed the first set by the score of 25-20. Gülmezoglu was not a novice at this level since two years ago head coach Glenn Hoag had provided this young boy with the opportunity to join the actions of the elite CEV Volleyball Champions League by the time he was only 17. Arkas continued their home show also in the second set (8:7) with Gavin Schmitt again on fire and eventually got a 2:0 lead at the end of a very close and dramatic final rush (27-25). In the third set head coach Glenn Hoag decided to make some changes to his starting six and lined up John Gordon Perrin as one of his two outside spikers. Still Arkas continued to set the pace of the game and did so from the start through the end (8:6, 16:10, 25-16). A golden set was therefore to be played to determine the eventual winners of this double confrontation and assign the much coveted ticket to the Challenge Round. In the end, after a dramatic and thrilling fight, Zaksa got the upper hand at 15-10.
“We caught a very good start tonight and put Zaksa under pressure. Today we played much better than we did last week. The support of our fans was an extra motivation for us and they contributed a great Volleyball night. Unfortunately we started the golden set with some easy mistakes and we couldn’t handle the pressure afterwards,” commented the head coach of Arkas IZMIR, Glenn Hoag.
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