COPRA BOOKS FIRST HOME VICTORY

Indesit European Champions' League 2004/05

Luxembourg, January 5, 2005. Italian Copra Volley PIACENZA started the new year with their first home victory in the Men’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2004/05 beating Lokomotiv KHARKIV from the Ukraine in straight sets. In the women’s seventh week two Poland vs Spain encounters took place with Stal BIELSKO-BIALA taking revenge against Spain’s Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS and TENERIFE Marichal keeping the upper hand against Polish Calisia Winiary KALISZ.

In the eighth week of the men’s Pool D the Italian team of Copra Volley PIACENZA achieved a first home success when overcoming Ukrainians Lokomotiv KHARKIV in straight sets. Local head coach Ljubo Travica was more than satisfied with this match in which finally, after three unlucky tiebreak defeats in Salsomaggiore, Copra proved their will to win. Leonel Marshall, best scorer (15 points) as well as best player of the match, commented: “I'm very happy to have won. This victory was very important for us in order to stay in the race for qualifying to the next round in the Indesit European Champions League”. With this victory the Italian team has climbed to third position in Pool D, trailing pool leader Dinamo MOSCOW from Russia and French PARIS Volley who have yet to play their sixth match.
In the women’s Pool A Stal BIELSKO-BIALA booked their third victory in the Women’s Indesit European Champions’ League with the 3:1-win against Spanish Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS, taking revenge for the straight-set away defeat in the beginning of December 2004. Thanks to their third victory the team of Zbigniew Krzyzanowski retain good chances of reaching the next round. However, the Poles had to fight hard in order to win this important encounter. Starting with a significant advantage in the first set (8-5, 12-6) the host team had to accept the draw at 13-13. But Stal retook control of the set finishing it 25-23, especially thanks to Ukrainian Lyubow Yagodina who scored in the deciding moments. Even though the guests dominated the beginning of the second set (5-8) the home team fought back with two service aces by Katarzyna Biel and a series of successful blocking and good defense actions (25-16). LAS PALMAS didn’t give up and won the third set, booking their only set win in this encounter (18-25) before the hosts saved a three-point lead to the end of the fourth set (25-22). “This was a crucial match for us”, stated Stal’s head coach Zbigniew Krzyżanowski after the encounter, “We are still in the game.” The best scorer of the host team was Lyubow Yagodina with 21 points. “We knew it would be a tough game. In particular the serves by the two Polish players caused our team major problems”, commented Marta Gens, the captain of Hotel Cantur.

In the third match of the day defending champion TENERIFE Marichal from Spain defeated Calisia Winiary KALISZ 3:1, guaranteeing third place in Pool B. Even though Chico Dos Santos did not have his full team at disposal, with Magaly Carvajal and Susana Rodriguez missing, the Spaniards took the first set 25-17. Moreover, setter Romina Lamas had to stop after the initial set due to a flu but still TENERIFE managed to take an important 2:0 lead. Coming back strong Calisia reduced the gap (2:1) winning the third set with a close 26-24. But the Polish winning streak did not last for long. From the very beginning of the fourth set the favourite home team dominated and finally finished the match five points in advance (25-20). Alojzy Swiderek admitted that he wasn’t happy because he came to TENERIFE with the aim to win but his players “failed in the reception”. The host coach on the other hand analysed: “The reason for which we lost the third set was surely a lack of concentration and I did not like the fact that our opponents scored six points in a row in that set”. The best scorers for TENERIFE Marichal were Ingrid Visser, Yelena Pavlova and Rosangela Correia with 15 points each, whilst for the away team Anna Wozniakowska booked the most points (16).


Men’s Indesit European Champions League 2004/05, Pool rounds, 8^th leg
Tuesday, January 4, 2005 

Preliminary Pool D

Copra Volley PIACENZA (ITA) - Lokomotiv KHARKIV (UKR)

3:0

25-20, 25-22, 25-20

70 mins

Women’s Indesit European Champions League 2004/05, Pool rounds, 7^th leg
Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Preliminary Pool A

Stal BIELSKO-BIALA (POL) - Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS (ESP)

3:1

25-23, 25-16, 18-25, 25-22

105 mins

Preliminary Pool B

TENERIFE Marichal (ESP) - Calisia Winiary KALISZ (POL)

3:1

25-17, 25-16, 24-26, 25-20

102 mins

More on the net (including live scores, statistics, match reports, photos and other information) at www.cev.lu

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Enjoy & Be There:
04-06 January 2005: Indesit European Champions League Women 7th leg, Men 8th leg.
04-06 January 2005: Austrian Airlines Top Teams Cup Men, 1/4 final Home matches.
04-06 January 2005: Top Teams Cup Women, 1/4 final Home matches.
04-06 January 2005: CEV Cup Men & Women, 1/4 final, Home matches.
05-09 January 2005: European Youth Championships 2005 qualification tournaments, Girls & Boys, Various.
11-13 January 2005:  Austrian Airlines Top Teams Cup Men, 1/4 final Away matches.
11-13 January 2005: Top Teams Cup Women, 1/4 final Away matches.