10/03/2015 18:43
PGE Skra ready to strike back and fight for their dreams
2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men
Lodz, Poland, March 10, 2015. More than 12,000 fans in Lodz can’t wait for another memorable Volleyball night and promise they will passionately cheer on their heroes of PGE Skra BELCHATOW. On Wednesday night the Polish champions need to beat Sir Safety PERUGIA of Italy to progress to the Final Four of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men scheduled for March 28-29 in Berlin, Germany.
Last week the Italian team claimed the first round of the Playoffs 6 recording a 3:2 win on home soil which means that PGE Skra must win their home match by 3:0 or 3:1 to secure their ticket to the Finals, otherwise – if they win by 3:2 – a golden set will have to be played to determine the eventual winner of this double clash. Nearly a month ago the Polish champions were able to beat Italy’s Cucine Lube TREIA 3:0 away and 3:1 at home, so the expectations are really high in Lodz and across Poland as well.
“We need to complete this Italian job and progress to the Final Four, which is our dream. We were very unlucky in the first match: it started with Facundo Conte’s playing shirt which got lost on our way to Italy. We lost our concentration and an important player for the opening set,” states PGE Skra President, Konrad Piechocki.
The Conte’s case and the lost match were just the beginning of a troubled day, as the bus taking Skra to the airport in Rome broke down along the way and the PGE Skra players eventually missed their flight. They had to travel in groups and the journey back home lasted for about 20 hours. The following day PGE Skra lost its first semi-final match (in a best-of-five series) of the PlusLiga versus Lotos Trefl GDANSK by 2:3.
“We are tired. We are having our troubles, and we have been quite unlucky in recent times. However, we are ready to fight for our dreams, and especially for qualification to the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Final Four.” PGE Skra’s coach Miguel Angel Falasca doesn’t like to grumble. “I believe in my team, I believe in the work we done this season. We can make it there.”
In the previous round BELCHATOW managed to stop its former star Bartosz Kurek, now playing in Italy for Cucine Lube TREIA. Now it is time to do the same with the Serbian superstar of PERUGIA, Aleksandar Atanasijevic. PGE Skra was the team which provided the young Serbian opposite with a first chance to shine on the international stage as he spent two seasons with Poland’s reigning champions.
The match, which will be played in front of over 12,000 fans, will be the 42nd official game of the season for PGE Skra. However, it is definitely the most important that Mariusz Wlazly and Co. have contested so far.
|