Piacenza, Italy, February 11, 2015.  The Russian team of Dinamo MOSCOW won its first-leg match of the Playoffs 12 stage of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League Women.  The visitors shut out Italy’s Nordmeccanica PIACENZA by 3:0 (29-27, 25-18, 25-23) to get as close as possible to qualification for the next stage.  The team of Alessandro Chiappini will get a second chance to change the tide next Thursday, February 19, in Moscow.

The start of the game was very spectacular.  Dinamo started better, but Nordmeccanica answered immediately.  The ace by Lise Van Hecke brought her team to a 10-10 tie.  The home side began to play better and reached a 21-18 advantage.  The Russians reacted immediately and an ace by Anastasia Markova led the situation to a 22-22 balance.  Dinamo earned two set points, both cancelled by Indre Sorokaite.  Then Van Hecke gained one for Nordmeccanica, but it was not used well.  The Russians took advantage and won the set by 29-27.  Dinamo started the second set better and was always the leader all the way through the set travelling safely with incisive attacks and defence to the eventual 25-18, shaped up by Nataliya Obmochaeva, who scored 10 points in this set.  In the third part, Nordmeccanica tried to get some good results, but Dinamo’s volleyballers showed that they are the better team in this match.  The difference was once again made by the Russian blockers, very strong in the important moments.

Nataliya Obmochaeva with 25 points at 45% success rate in attack was the top scorer of the match.

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