18/02/2015 22:44
Rookies PERUGIA rout 2014 bronze medallists to make Playoffs 6
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Perugia, Italy, February 18, 2015. As they are making this year their first appearance in the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men, rookies Sir Safety PERUGIA immediately left their mark on Europe’s elite competition by making the Playoffs 6 after claiming also the return match with last year’s bronze medallists JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel of Poland, this time in three sets (25-18, 25-22, 25-17) following their tie-break win from last week in Upper Silesia. In the last round preceding the Final Four scheduled for March 28-29 in Berlin, PERUGIA will take on Poland’s PGE Skra BELCHATOW or their compatriots of Cucine Lube TREIA.
The first set turned out to be an easy task for the hosts who stormed out to a 14:9 lead and comfortably closed it out at 25-18. The second followed the same trend with PERUGIA leading for most of the time by as many as three points until the visitors got back on track after saving some impossible balls. They even levelled the score but with a fantastic final rush the hosts cruised to the 25-22 that opened the way to the Playoffs 6. The last point of that set was scored on a superb block of the Argentinean setter of PERUGIA, Luciano De Cecco. The third set started in the best way for PERUGIA with a massive 8:1 lead at the first technical time-out. Two breaks asked by the coach of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel, Roberto Piazza, helped the visitors find their way back into the match but the hosts broke away once more, first to 16:6 and then to 20:11 to finish it off at 25-17 for a memorable home victory celebrated by 2,500 fans.
The mentor of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel, Roberto Piazza, said: “In my opinion this was our worst match since the beginning of the season, whilst we should have played the best one to keep alive our chances to make the next round. We did not start in a good way and our motivation went down. It is a pity that we played so bad at this important stage of the competition.”
Home mentor Nikola Grbic said: “I am very happy and pleased with the way we played this match which was extremely important for my team. We knew we had achieved a good result last week in Poland after winning before their fans, but every match starts from scratch and it was extremely important to win this one as well.”
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