27/01/2016 23:56
RC CANNES bid farewell to CL with home win over Serbian ‘Sharks’
2016 CEV DenizBank Vollyball Champions League - Women
Cannes, France, January 27, 2016. They needed six matches to celebrate their first hurrah in the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women but finally on Wednesday night France’s record champions RC CANNES provided 1,200 fans in attendance at Palais des Victoires with a real joy following their 3-1 win (26-24, 25-17, 24-26, 25-21) over Serbia’s Vizura BEOGRAD to bid farewell to Europe’s elite club competition.
It was a very solid performance for RC CANNES, both individually as well as collectively. After trailing 5-1 in the opening set, RC CANNES closed in with a positive series as Alexandra Lazic stood behind the service line. Vizura trailed by two, three points up until 24-21 for RC CANNES and even though the young Serbs put on a fight to level the count at 24-all, RC CANNES eventually finished it off at 26-24 with another two straight points.
Things went just easy for RC CANNES in the second set where the hosts set the pace right from the start (8-5) to continue to do so (12-7, 17-10) and as Vizura BEOGRAD performed well below their usual standards, the set came to an end with a comfortable 25-17 win for the French ladies.
The third set was a lot closer with Vizura edging ahead at the second technical time-out (16-13). RC CANNES struggled in defence and reception as well, and as a result Vizura used their opportunity to widen their lead to four points at 21-17. RC CANNES coach Yan Fang stopped the game in an effort to turn the tide and his move produced the desired effect, with the French champs closing in at 23-22 for their opponents. At this stage Zeljko Tanaskovic also took time-out for Vizura and after RC CANNES failed to use a match point at 24-23, Vizura scored three in a row to take the match to a fourth set.
It was impossible to separate the two teams in the fourth stanza until Lazic – who delivered a remarkable performance on Wednesday night – stamped two blocks in a row for a four-point lead (16-12). Their efficient block was the key to RC CANNES success in this set which ended at 25-21 to seal the first victory by the players from the French Riviera in this year’s Champions League.
Nadiia Kodola top scored in the end for RC CANNES with 18 points followed by Alexandra Lazic and Gergana Dimitrova who signed 13 and 12, respectively. On the other side of the net, the only 16-year old Katarina Lazovic top scored with 19 points whilst another 16 were added by Sara Lozo to the tally of the Serbian team.
The match was truly exciting and the audience enjoyed every single rally, and especially the great defence actions displayed by home libero Déborah Ortschitt.
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