17/02/2016 22:49
Belogorie outclass TOURS VB before sell-out crowd
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Tours, France, February 17, 2016. TOURS VB could not pose a real threat to Russia’s standout Belogorie BELGOROD as on Wednesday night France’s national champions lost in three sets to the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League gold medal winners their first matchup in the Playoffs 12 of Europe’s premier competition. Belogorie cruised to a dominant 3-0 win (25-19, 25-16, 25-23) to make it one step closer to qualifying for the next round of the 2016 CEV Volleyball Champions League.
The superiority of the Russian side was ocular especially in the first and second sets where TOURS VB did not kill any single block and could not find a way to compete with the Russian giants. The domination by Belogorie is even more evident by looking at the figures recorded at the end of the match with Russian top scorer Dmitriy Muserskiy finishing on 19 points and the home side’s team captain David Konecny having to be content with nine to still top the charts for TOURS VB.
However, the difference was made especially from the service line and in defence as well. The physically dominant Russian players outclassed TOURS VB and prevented the home guys from posing a real threat to their rule. As local manager Pascal Foussard commented after the match, ‘”we had to defend a lot but we were not able to do so.”
Belgian-born coach Vital Heynen still hopes for a comeback by his side in two weeks when the return match will be played in Russia. In the meantime he will try to galvanise his players and make sure that they produce another great performance in this year’s Champions League.
On Wednesday night, even after such heavy loss, TOURS VB team captain David Konecny showed optimism: “The match in Belgorod will be a different story and we will turn it into a real fight.”
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