21/01/2016 00:16
PIACENZA join elite club with fifth straight (hard-fought) win
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Piacenza, Italy, January 20, 2016. It turned out to be a much tougher than expected match on Wednesday night for Italy’s Nordmeccanica PIACENZA as they needed five sets (25-20, 16-25, 25-22, 24-26, 16-14) to edge Romania’s champions CS Volei Alba BLAJ and to secure their fifth straight win in Pool F of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women.
The first set was a close race with BLAJ leading 8-7 at the first technical time-out. After the break, PIACENZA changed their strategy with Floortje Meijners and their middle blockers helping the home side edge ahead at 16-12. BLAJ responded well but PIACENZA remained focussed and won the opening set 25-20 with six points scored by Francesca Marcon.
BLAJ started the second set better than the hosts and this resulted in an 8-7 lead for the Romanians. Nordmeccanica fought back but BLAJ hold on to their lead to cruise to 25-16 and restore the balance in the match.
BLAJ were again off to a solid start in set three (8-7) but this time PIACENZA reacted immediately and turned the tide at 14-10 with two points by their Dutch middle blocker Yvon Belien. Indre Sorokaite scored for 16-12 and to call the second technical break and an ace by team captain Christina Bauer moved the charts to 20-16 for the hosts. PIACENZA did not look back anymore and finished the set 25-22 with six points signed by Belien.
PIACENZA played with a lot of attention and determination also in set 4 but BLAJ fought back and edged ahead at the second technical time-out. Meijners restored the balance at 16-all before PIACENZA missed out on two match balls at 24-22. BLAJ responded by scoring four points in a row and the match went into a tie-break.
This was another close race with PIACENZA claiming another two match points at 14-12 but only their third opportunity was the lucky one to end the match at 16-14 after more than two hours of play.
Dutch duo Floortje Meijners and Yvon Belien top scored in the end for the home side with 21 and 19 points, respectively as Jovana Vesovic paced BLAJ with 19.
Click here for more information including detailed stats of the match
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