Jastrzebie-Zdroj, Poland, February 12, 2015. In the first battle for a spot in the Playoffs 6 round of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men, JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel lost at home against Italian vice champion Sir Safety PERUGIA by 2:3 (25-18, 21-25, 25-27, 26-24, 11-15).

The hosts came out strong from the very beginning of the game, especially in serving.  Two aces by Michal Lasko and Alen Pajenk helped them build a 10-3 advantage.  The visitors had big problems in reception and made a lot of mistakes in serving.  When JASTRZEBSKI added a fantastic blocking performance by Patryk Czarnowski and counterattack, the rivals had no chance for a competitive battle.  The team from Upper Silesia won that part of the match easily by 25-18.

In the second set the roles had turned.  The Italian team led by Christian Fromm (9 points) and Aleksandar Atanasijevic (6 points) in attack was in front from the very beginning till the end of the set and the German outside spiker closed the set at 25-21.

The third set was a real show and spectacle for people with strong nerves.  The hosts chased the opponents from a four-point deficit at 14-18 and levelled the score in the crucial moment at 23-23.  They even had the opportunity to win at 25-24, but two mistakes in the key moments of this part deprived them of that prospect – 25-27.

The next part of the match was a copy of the first set, with a lot of good volleyball and a lot of emotions.  The difference was only in the final result.  JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel had two set points and this time the players of coach Roberto Piazza were able to close the set on the plus side – 26-24.

In the tie-breaker, the Italian vice champions quickly built a safe point distance and even though JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel decreased the gap to 11-13, the last word belonged to the visitors who won by 15-11.

Michal Lasko with 24 points and Christan Fromm with 27 points (6 aces!) top scored for JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel and Sir Safety PERUGIA, respectively.

“Tonight it was very important to serve well.  It was very important for us to put the ball away from the net, because the setter of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel is setting very fast and it is very hard to organize the defence against such quick balls.  We served very well and the final result is in consequence of this,” said Nikola Grbic, head coach of Sir Safety PERUGIA.

“We lost our big chance.  We could have won this match by 3:1, but we lost by 2:3.  We will go to Perugia full of faith that we can win and move up to the next round,” said Damian Wojtaszek, libero of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel.

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