26/01/2016 19:29
Belogorie thrash Bulgarian champions to secure top spot in Pool A
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Belgorod, Russia, January 26, 2016. In the closing match on schedule for Pool A of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men hosts Belogorie BELGOROD didn’t give a slight chance to Bulgaria’s champions Marek Union-Ivkoni DUPNITSA, cruising to a speedy 3-0 win (25-11, 25-16, 25-14). This way Belogorie made sure they would finish on top of the charts in Pool A, waiting now for the Drawing of Lots which is due to take place on Thursday morning to know their next opponent in the Playoffs 12.
From the very first minutes of the match the hosts showed the highest level of performance and an overwhelming superiority over the visitors from Bulgaria. The spikers of DUPNITSA had a lot of difficulties to make it through the Russian block. On the other hand, the Lions of Belogorie BELGOROD did well at serving and in defence as well while being also extremely effective in attack. The score stood at 4-0 for Belogorie – that was only the start of the match, with the first technical time-out following at 8-3 for the home side, and BELGOROD doubling their advantage by the second break – 16-8. The flow of the game remained the same in the other sets as well, even after the home coaching staff started to use players from the bench. The Lions ultimately celebrated an easy straight-sets victory, and the last two balls were scored by the team captain, 2012 Olympic champion Taras Khtey, who was back on court after a long break due to injury.
The best scorer of Belogorie was Sergey Baranov with 15 points. Dmitry Krasikov piled up 11 points for the home team, and Dmitriy Muserskiy added another 10. The most prolific player for DUPNITSA was Borislav Apostolov with seven points.
After the match Belogorie’s assistant coach Vadim Khamuttskikh said: “I am satisfied with the overall result of the group stage, and with today’s chance to see almost all of our players on court. And now we are all waiting for the results of the Drawing of Lots to start our preparations for the Playoffs.”
Bulgarian head coach Nayden Naydenov stated: “This match was a great experience for my young team. I could see some things to work on in the future. I am sure that my players had a lot learn from their experience tonight.”
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