DEFENDING CHAMPION TENERIFE WINS DECIDING ENCOUNTER AGAINST KALISZ

Women's Indesit European Champions League 2004/05

Luxembourg, December 1, 2004. In the fourth week of the Women’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2004/05 with six matches having been played today the deserved winners were Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS (ESP), Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA) and RC CANNES in Pool A as well as Azerrail BAKU (AZE), Sant’ Orsola Asystel NOVARA (ITA) and TENERIFE Marichal (ESP) in Pool B.

Favourite from Pool A, Italian Foppapedretti BERGAMO, was the first women’s team to win their match this week when they beat Günes Vakifbank ISTANBUL 3:1 in front of 2’900 Turkish spectators. Not playing at their best in the first two sets ISTANBUL helped the guest team coached by Giovanni Caprara in securing the first two sets (20-25, 19-25). Fighting back in the third the home favourites struggled to win this run 29-27, catching up to 1:2. The fourth set was a close head-to-head which Foppapedretti finally finished in Italian favour (23-25). Best player of the match was Lioubov Kilic (Foppapedretti BERGAMO). “We played very bad today”, announced the Italian team’s coach Giovanni Caprara, “our team made a lot of mistakes.” On the other side ISTANBUL’s coach Volodymyr Buzayev was more content, stating: “We didn’t play too well in the first set but showed our skills afterwards, playing head to head with Bergamo. Unluckily we lost the match.” “If we had shown our own play we would have defeated Bergamo”, added captain Aysun Ozbek convinced.
One of the favourites in Pool B also had minor problems in securing their third victory, which was their second victory away. The whole match lasted just over an hour in which the young girls from Belgrade only managed to keep up the fight during the second set where they led 22-20. However, the more experienced Azerbaijan team didn’t allow their opponents to win a set, finally taking a safe 2:0 set lead. The third set made clear that Azerrail BAKU played at a higher level which the Serbs had to accept. “We played better than we expected”, stated Zoran Terzic, head coach of Crvena Zvezda BEOGRAD, “We had a chance to win the second set but without an effective first attack it wasn’t possible. Azerrail is a very strong and experienced team, definitely a favourite for one of the two first places in Pool B.” “This was a difficult match for us in psychological terms as we were expected to win”, commented Faig Garayev, head coach of Azerrail BAKU.
In another Pool B match pool leader Sant’Orsola Asystel NOVARA from Italy confirmed their top position with a straight set win against Turkish Besiktas ISTANBUL. After winning the first set with a 12-point difference (25-13) the Italians from Asystel NOVARA felt confident enough to show off their whole repertoire, which brought home the second set 25-12. Not wanting to admit defeat so easily the Turks fought back to take a first 5-2 lead in the third set thanks to an improved reception and defense. Sant’Orsola reacted and refocused their concentration on the match. Spasojevic’s jump serves, Glinka’s line shots, Nicolini’s strikes, Radulovic’s serves together with Cardullo’s receptions pushed the hosts to a 21-10 lead which they turned to a final 25-15 win.
In the top Pool B encounter between current number three and four of the pool, namely defending champion TENERIFE Marichal and Polish Calisia Winiary KALISZ, the match was balanced with KALISZ taking the set leads (1:0, 2:1) and TENERIFE never giving up. The home team had the first possibility to win the match with a match point in the deciding tiebreak at 14-13, but neither this one nor the following three could be transformed so that TENERIFE took advantage by successfully converting their second match point (18-20) for a deserved 3:2-victory.
Finally, RC CANNES encountered few problems in taking victory over Russian Uralochka EKATERINBURG who have lost all of their matches to date. With their three set victory they took over second place in Pool B trailing Foppapedretti BERGAMO by one point. Leading 7-5 in the first set CANNES quickly advanced to a 14-9 lead with Sano performing very effectively as libero, saving many balls. After the French team captured the first set (25-20) their defense weakened which allowed the Russians to mark a few points. However, regaining concentration at the decisive moments the girls from the Côte d’Azur save the set 27-25, taking a 2:0-lead. Dominating the game in the third set (15-10) CANNES finally celebrated victory, rendering their 1’500 fans in the Andre Henry sports hall more than happy.
The other Spain versus Poland encounter between Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS and Polish Stal BIELSKO-BIALA was also won by Spain with a straight set victory (25-17, 25-13, 27-25) pushing Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS onto fourth position in Pool A. The Spaniards quickly took a five-point advantage at the beginning of the first set (12-7) which they later won 25-17 due to successful blocks and strong serves by Golubovic and Vahen. Profiting from the several unforced errors by the visiting team from Poland, LAS PALMAS stormed off increasing a 10-4 lead to 20-9, securing the second set 25-13 for a 2:1-set advantage. Even though the third and final set was more balanced Hotel Cantur continued profiting from their opponent’s mistakes in decisive situations. Mira Golubovic saved her team from having to play a fourth set, finishing the third 27-25. The hosting team’s head coach Sergio Miguel Camarero declared that he was content with the players, affirming also that this was an essential victory in aiming to be amongst the better teams in Europe.

Women’s Indesit European Champions League 2004/05, Pool rounds, 4th leg
Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Preliminary Pool A

Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS (ESP) - Stal BIELSKO-BIALA (POL)	3:0	25-17, 25-13, 27-25
Günes Vakifbank ISTANBUL (TUR) - Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA)	1:3	20-25, 19-25, 29-27, 23-25
RC CANNES (FRA) - Uralochka NTMK EKATERINBURG (RUS)	3:0	25-20, 27-25, 25-13

Preliminary Pool B

Crvena Zvezda BEOGRAD (SCG) - Azerrail BAKU (AZE)	0:3	19-25, 24-26, 13-25
Sant’Orsola Asystel NOVARA (ITA) - Besiktas ISTANBUL (TUR)	3:0	25-13, 25-12, 25-15
Calisia Winiary KALISZ (POL) - TENERIFE Marichal (ESP)	2:3	25-21, 19-25, 25-15, 12-25, 18-20

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Confédération Européenne de Volleyball

DEFENDING CHAMPION TENERIFE WINS DECIDING ENCOUNTER AGAINST KALISZ

Women's Indesit European Champions League 2004/05

Preliminary Pool A