04/03/2015 23:19
ASSE-LENNIK stun Precura ANTWERP in Belgian derby
2015 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Zellik, Belgium, March 4, 2015. On Wednesday night Volley behappy2 ASSE-LENNIK played Precura ANTWERP in a Belgian derby on schedule for the first leg of the Challenge Round in the 2015 edition of the CEV Volleyball Cup – Men. ASSE-LENNIK made use of the home advantage and exploited some injuries currently affecting the roster of ANTWERP to cruise to a 3:0 victory (25-18, 25-21, 25-22) and get the right edge for the return match coming up next week.
ASSE-LENNIK caught a flying start and claimed an 8:3 lead at the first technical time-out of the opening set. Precura ANTWERP could not recover from this early deficit and was forced to see how the home team continued to dominate the scene. A time-out asked by Precura’s head coach Geert Verreth as the score stood at 13:6 didn’t help much, as ASSE-LENNIK called for the second technical time-out leading the way comfortably by 16:7. Middle blocker Sebastiaan van Bemmelen was forced to play as opposite due to the injury of Marien Moreau, but he couldn’t quite live up to the expectations, so ASSE-LENNIK hold on to their lead and eventually brought the opening set to an end at 25-18.
Precura ANTWERP was off to a better start in the second set, but was already down 6:8 at the first technical time-out. ASSE-LENNIK had to accept a change in the course of the game as their opponents briefly claimed the lead at 9:10, but the home team quickly regained control of the match at 13:12. They got a margin of two points at the second technical time-out and went on to widen it up to five at 20:15. After ANTWERP cut their deficit to only two points (21:19), again the hosts showed their nerves of steel and their quality as well to finish it off at 25-20.
ASSE-LENNIK knew that an important 3:0 win was within their reach but ANTWERP refused to let it become a walk-over for the home side. After a close opening phase, ASSE-LENNIK got up by 8:6 but even though the hosts’ lead had grown to six points at the second technical time-out, ANTWERP struck back to 18:17. A tense ending of the set finally followed with ANTWERP going up by one point at 21:22 before a strong finish by Robin Overbeeke and Janusz Gorski contributed the final 25-22 and 3:0 victory for ASSE-LENNIK.
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