08/12/2016 13:41
ANTWERP delight home crowd with victory over Croatian rival
2017 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Antwerp, Belgium, December 8, 2016. Belgium’s Topvolley Callant ANTWERP provided an enthusiastic home crowd of some 1,000 fans with something to cheer about as the hosts claimed their first matchup in the 2017 edition of the CEV Volleyball Cup beating Mladost Ribola KAŠTELA of Croatia by 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 29-27, 25-19).
The young team coached by Alain Dardenne caught a flying start to the match with their opposite Jolan Cox scoring time and again. The visitors fought back in the second set – as the Belgians struggled in reception whereas Petar Dirlic (top scorer in the end with 24 points) was just unstoppable, this resulting in a 25-20 set win for Mladost Ribola. ANTWERP edged ahead at the second technical time-out of set 3 (16-13) but KAŠTELA came back to lead 23-21 shortly afterwards. Both teams had the chance to win the set but driven by the home crowd ANTWERP came out on top finishing it all off at 29-27 with a kill block by their setter Andres Toobal. The hosts delivered a very solid performance in the fourth set, thus bringing the match to an end with a 3-1 victory.
“We did not play our best, especially in reception, but we managed to take this victory home,” coach Dardenne said. “In two weeks we travel to Croatia where we need to win two more sets to move on to the next round.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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