23/01/2015 10:30
Lokomotiv just about to host Bulgarian champions, but already set their sight on Playoffs
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Novosibirsk, Russia, January 23, 2015. On Tuesday, January 27, Russia’s Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK will be hosting Bulgaria’s champions Marek Union-Ivkoni DUPNITSA for the sixth and last round of action in Pool B of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men. The Russians – winners of this competition in 2013 – have already secured their ticket to the Playoff round but a large crowd is expected to turn up for this match since anytime the Champions League comes to town, it sparks a real Volleyball fever in Siberia’s largest city.
Some days ago Lokomotiv travelled to Spain with a bunch of young players and eventually lost their away match to CAI TERUEL. Their head coach Andrei Voronkov had indeed decided to rest his starting players as Lokomotiv are about to take on some important matches on schedule for the Russian Superleague and the team have already set their sight also on the Playoff round of Europe’s elite competition coming up in February. Most probably Voronkov will be doing the same also for the home match with DUPNITSA but the Russian mentor has not disclosed his plans yet.
The Bulgarian champions currently sit at the bottom of the charts in Pool B with three points from five matches but will be trying to repeat the home success achieved only a few days ago by CAI TERUEL in their match up with the Russian giants. Lokomotiv will most probably not rely on their opposite Pavel Moroz who played in Spain his first match since the beginning of the season after suffering a serious injury at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Poland last September. However, Moroz just broke one of his fingers and will most probably have to sit out the match with DUPNITSA. The priority for Lokomotiv, as they are already qualified to the Playoffs and have secured first place in Pool B, will be to make sure that their players stay injury-free until the start of the Playoffs.
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