02/03/2016 20:07
Belogorie on to Playoffs 6 after claiming two sets from re-match with TOURS VB
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Belgorod, Russia, March 2, 2016. To qualify for the next round of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men, it was enough for Belogorie BELGOROD to win just two sets from their re-match with France’s national champions TOURS VB and so they did on Wednesday night when performing before 4,700 home fans. In the end the visitors from France recorded a 3-2 win (25-23, 22-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-13) but the Russian ‘Lions’ still move on to the Playoffs 6 to remain in contention for their fourth crown in Europe’s elite competition.
TOURS VB captain David Konecny promised his team would have performed differently in Belgorod than two weeks before in France. And so they did even though the Czech captain of TOURS VB did not join the actions because of an injury.
From the very first moments of the match the hosts claimed a three-point advantage. However, Vital Heynen’s players used the opponent’s errors to draw level at 13-all. Aces by Konstantin Cupkovic and Sergey Tetyukhin helped their respective teams edged ahead but when Belogorie’s setter Sergey Antipkin came to the service line, the Russian Lions broke away again (22-19). TOURS VB were nevertheless simply too good at blocking and in defence and as a result they flipped the charts around again and claimed the opening set by 25-23.
The French visitors performed very well also from start through midway of the second set where the Russian block shifted to the next gear and Dmitriy Muserskiy was just unstoppable. All the efforts made by TOURS VB to close in were fruitless and Belogorie won the second set by 25-22.
In the third set the team mentored by former star setter Vadim Khamuttskikh was even more dominant and determined to secure their spot in the Playoffs 6. After their 25-20 win, the final result of the match didn’t matter for either of the teams and as a consequence they used their chance to try their second lines. Belogorie’s starting six in the last two sets was completely different which affected the final score.
The best scorer of the match was Belogorie’s opposite Roman Danilov with 23 points, while Muserskiy recorded 12. The best scorer of TOURS VB was also their opposite Ludovic Castard with 21, followed by Australian outside spiker Adam White with 15.
TOURS VB coach Vital Heynen was satisfied with the way his players performed in the match compared to the first one in France. But according to him, Belogorie was evidently stronger and deserved to qualify for the Playoffs 6. He also singled out the performance of Dmitriy Muserskiy who sometimes was just impossible to stop.
Vadim Khamuttskikh on one hand was satisfied his team accomplished the task to continue the fight for Europe’s most coveted crown, on the other hand some of the players who got a chance to show their best didn’t use it which made the assistant coach of Belogorie quite disappointed.
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