20/01/2016 22:11
PERUGIA live up to their status to claim away win over DÜREN
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Düren, Germany, January 20, 2016. As expected, pre-favourites Sir Safety-Sicoma PERUGIA of Italy claimed the first round of the quarter-final fixture in the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men with Germany’s SWD powervolleys DÜREN by recording a 3-1 win (25-23, 25-21, 24-26, 25-15) on Wednesday night.
In the end the Italians outplayed the team from the German Bundesliga with their all-star power. With Luciano De Cecco orchestrating the offence and Aleksandar Atanasijevic finishing the job with his powerful spikes, PERUGIA were just too much to handle for the underdogs from Düren.
However, the powervolleys were able to give their 1,500 fans in attendance at Arena Kreis Düren something to cheer about. They came back to win set three after trailing by five points, delivering some superb defence actions and powered by excellent serving contributed by their Chilean opposite Sebastian Gevert.
“That was a wake-up call for us,” PERUGIA outside spiker Christian Fromm said in what was a comeback home, so to speak, as he had played in Düren five years ago.
“We need to pay tribute to our opponents, they fought hard and deserved the set,” PERUGIA coach Slobodan Kovac said. “I am very satisfied with the way we played in the fourth set,” he continued. The hosts were not able to keep the intensity as high as in the previous set, their reception was shaky and so the Italians scored a couple of blocks to win the fourth set and the match.
Atanasijevic led all scorers with 22 points whereas for the home side Jan-Philipp Marks finished the match with 14 points, and Gevert added six aces to the count of the hosts.
“We can be proud of the way we played. We were able to keep the level high for four sets and to challenge PERUGIA,” said powervolleys coach Anton Brams. “In the end we have to acknowledge the fact that they are a world-class team.”
Next Wednesday the two teams will meet in Perugia to determine who eventually progresses to the Challenge Round.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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