Salo, Finland, October 23, 2017. Finland
champions LP SALO host Bulgarian champions Maritza PLOVDIV this Wednesday in
the 2nd leg of the women`s Champions League 2nd Round. Maritza PLOVDIV won the
first leg at home last week 3-1, so the home team needs to win 3-0 or 3-1 to have
the chance to qualify via a golden set.
The eventual winner of this pair will meet last years Russian Superleague bronze medallists, Yenisei KRASNOYARSK in the 3rd Round scheduled for the beginning of November. The winner of this tie will go on to play in the pool phase, known as the 4th Round.
The Mayor of Salo Mr. Lauri Inna attended the press conference before the match at Sokos Hotel Rikala. Mayor Inna enjoys Volleyball himself a lot as a former player, as a coach and mainly working in background of our sport.
He said:
”Salo is the capital of women`s Volleyball in Finland and we are really proud that our team plays in the highest level in CEV Champions League this year and hopefully also in the future. International games are a big part of our strategy of improving our city forward, so we are not only speaking, we are also showing that we can do things at a high level.”
Teams
- LP SALO is playing in the Champions League for a second time time. They were first time in this competition in 2015, when they lost all their six matches, so they are still seeking for their first win in this competition. LP SALO are eight times Finnish champion and ten times cup champions and were formerly known as Salon Viesti.
- In the first leg last Thursday Hillaelina Hämäläinen, Roosa Heikkiniemi, Eeva Puukka, Elina Käsnänen, Tuuli Kukkonen, Saana Lindgren, Pilvi Kettunen, Ronja Heikkiniemi and Ella Eloranta all made their debuts in the Champions League.
- Ukrainian setter for LP SALO Viktoriia Tuchashvili is the most experienced CEV European Cup player with her 59 appearances before the match on Wednesday.
- Maritza PLOVDIV takes part in the Champions League for the 2nd time. They are the first and only Bulgarian team that have played at this level. They are defending Bulgarian champions and cup champions after winning each three times.
Quotes
Radosveta Teneva, captain of Maritza PLOVDIV:
“The first game was not an easy one for us, even if we won. We know that in two days this second game will be also not an easy game. For sure it will be an interesting match. Both teams must give their best and I am looking forward to it. In the first game our opponent had a good defense and they were fighting really well. We had a little advantage in some elements, but not much.”
Ivan Petkov, head coach of Maritza PLOVDIV:
“As I said before the first match, this second match will decide who will continue to the third round. The first match was for us really emotional, because it was our first official game of the season. The reason we won the first match was probably because our players are little bit more experienced. But this already belongs to the past, now we are preparing for Wednesdays match. I think the level of the first match was quite high and I expect the same from the upcoming game.”
Elina Käsnänen, captain of LP SALO:
“We had a lot of good things in the first match at Plovdiv. We started well, we just couldn’t finish sets off. It was a great experience for us all. We rested this weekend and now we started to prepare for the second match, what we waited a lot in front of our great home audience. We want to show, that we can also finish the sets well.”
Tomi Lemminkäinen, head coach of LP SALO:
“We played our best Volleyball of the season so far in the first game, but we didn´t have enough in the end of the sets 1, 2 and 4. I think we are now in the same position, that we were four years ago in the CEV Challenge Cup against Khimik YUZHNY. We lost then in Ukraine, but won the match at home and then the golden set advancing to the semi-finals. I trust that this will happen again. This is our goal. I think we are two equal teams in our level of Volleyball.”
How to follow the match...
Watch it live: http://cev.laola1.tv/
Live score, statistics, reports and photos: all available on www.cev.lu
Social Media: Follow via the official event hashtag (#CLVolleyW), with the most regular updates coming on our competition Twitter account @CEVolleyballCL
What`s next?
Maritza PLOVDIV go into the match knowing they only need two sets to progress. Should the home team win 3-0 or 3-1 we will have a golden set. The eventual winner will play Yenisei KRASNOYARSK from Russia in the 3rd Round.
#CLVolleyW