18/02/2016 00:02
Knack ROESELARE add CEV Cup win to their positive streak
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Teruel, Spain, February 17, 2016. Only three days after celebrating their ninth triumph in Belgium’s national cup, Knack ROESELARE provided their fans with something more to cheer about following their 3-1 away win (25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 32-30) over Spain’s CAI TERUEL in the first leg of the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men Challenge Round. The return match will follow in two weeks in Belgium and Knack will be trying to use the home advantage to move on to the semis of Europe’s second most prestigious club competition.
The atmosphere was as usual electrifying at Los Planos sports pavilion in Teruel where shortly before the start of the match all those in attendance could attend a truffle exhibition organised by an association of local producers.
The first set was clearly dominated by the Belgian visitors as CAI TERUEL seemed to be a little nervous going into this matchup. The Spaniards made a lot more mistakes than they usually do and this resulted in a commanding 16-11 lead for Knack ROESELARE at the second technical time-out. Even though CAI TERUEL fought back and improved their performance as the set progressed, Knack ROESELARE were able to finish it off at 25-22 in their favour.
The start of the second set was a close affair with Knack ROESELARE claiming a two-point lead at 8-6 before CAI TERUEL flipped the charts around to edge ahead at 12-10. At this point the Belgians scored a few rallies in a row to move four points clear of their rivals but even though this run seemed to pre-determine the fate of the set, CAI TERUEL responded by levelling the score at 18-all. After this comeback, the Spaniards made too many errors to stay competitive and Knack won the second set 25-20.
CAI TERUEL nevertheless refused to give in and put on a real fight in the third set. The hosts set the pace from start to finish, keeping their nerves under control and making only a very few errors, this paving the way towards their 25-22 set win.
The score remained close for most of the fourth set with CAI TERUEL and Knack ROESELARE being able to edge ahead only by very narrow margins. The final and decisive moments of the set were to determine if a tie-break was going to be played or not. CAI TERUEL played with everything they had showing energy and courage coming back from 21-24 to make it 24-all. Yet in a nerve-wracking finale it was the Belgian team that had the upper hand in the end (32-30) to seal their 3-1 win.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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