CANNES QUALIFIES WITH STRAIGHT 3:0

Women's Indesit European Champions' League 2004/05

Luxembourg, January 18, 2005. In the ninth week of the Women’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2004/05 League Round with one leg still to go, RC CANNES (FRA) secured their qualification to the playoff round after today’s matches, joining the already qualified teams of Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA), Sant’Orsola Asystel NOVARA (ITA) and Azerrail BAKU (AZE).

Uralochka EKATERINBURG was the first team in pool A to book a victory, defeating Stal BIELSKO-BIALA from Poland in five sets (16-25, 25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9). The first set went quickly as Uralochka weren't quite there yet, with BIELSKO-BIALA’s main players Lyubov Yagodina and Agata Mroz performing at their best, the Poles took the 1:0 lead. The Russians reacted in the second set, especially the Cuban players Yumilka Ruiz (best player of the game) and Zoila Barros, who were mainly responsible for deciding the second set in home favour (25-16). EKATERINBURG continued playing strongly, especially spiker Mia Jerkov and Uralochka’s captain Irina Tebenikhina, winning the third set (25-20) thus turning the tables to a 2:1 lead. Resisting strongly, Stal BIELSKO-BIALA fought for every point, finally winning this important fourth set (23-25) and equalising the score at 2:2. The final thrilling tiebreaker saw the guest team inch away to an 8-6 lead. The Russian coach Nikolay Karpol found the right strategy to inspire his team to victory, EKATERINBURG finally allowing their opponents but one more point in the final fifth set. With a final 15-9 tiebreak score the Russians strode to 3:2 victory.
“Both teams showed a good game”, commented Nikolay Karpol at the end of the match, “We played better than in the first encounter against Stal BIELSKO-BIALA because of Irina Tebenikhina’s return. It’s a pity that we won’t get any further in the Indesit European Champions’ League and I do hope that we will have more success in the future. The Polish team served and blocked very well and I would like to wish this team good luck in the following matches of the IECL.” The captain of the Polish team, Lyubov Yagodina, stated that she was pleased with the game even though the result wasn’t too good: “We came to Russia to win but unfortunately we faced a very tough resistance, so we lost. Also our team’s setter is still very young.”
With a clear straight set victory over Günes Vakifbank ISTANBUL from TURKEY in pool A, which lasted just over an hour, French RC CANNES secured their qualification for the subsequent playoff round (25-8, 25-23, 25-21). In spite of the numerous supporters that travelled with their team to encourage ISTANBUL the first set started disastrous for the Turkish guests who committed several unforced errors, not finding a way to counter the strong smashes of Jelena Lozansic, so that CANNES stormed ahead relatively easily (25-8). Gaining more self-confidence the visiting team led the beginning of the second set but had to watch CANNES book the final point again (25-23) to take the 2:0 lead. Taking the advantage once again at the beginning of the third set ISTANBUL failed once more to profit from the lead, allowing the French girls to fight back and win 3:0 (25-21). The victory secured RC CANNES a spot in the playoff round.
Pool A leader Foppapedretti BERGAMO from Italy struggled through the first and the third set facing Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS (ESP), who have now no more chance of qualifying for the next round, but finally managed to overthrow the current fifth ranked team 3:0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-23).
Pool B only staged one encounter tonight, namely between current pool second Azerrail BAKU (AZE) and current third spot as well as defending champion TENERIFE Marichal (ESP), with the other four teams meeting on Wednesday, 19th January 2005. Given that both teams have already qualified for the playoff stage this match decided on second position in pool B, before the final leg will be played next week. Still, both teams were eager to win in order to achieve second placein pool B, hence avoiding to come against the powerful Italian team of Foppapedretti BERGAMO in the quarterfinal stage. However, in a one-sided clash Azerrail BAKU only managed to resist the strong Spanish team in the first and the third set, dropping the second set 9:25 with TENERIFE booking 14 points in a row merely by defending. Hence, the Spanish team coached by Chico Dos Santos has secured second place in pool B, overtaking Azerrail BAKU who has dropped down to third spot. "TENERIFE Marichal played an excellent match and their players did everything right", stated Faig Garayev, head coach of Azerrail BAKU, whereas Chico Dos Santos explained that "we have been working so hard during this week and my players did very well, especially in defense and blocking. We knew that we had to be very fast in attack and I'm happy that my players performed that way."

Women’s Indesit European Champions League 2004/05, Pool rounds, 9^th leg
Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Preliminary Pool A

Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA) - Hotel Cantur LAS PALMAS (ESP)	3:0	26-24, 25-17, 25-23	69 mins
Uralochka NTMK EKATERINBURG (RUS) - Stal BIELSKO-BIALA (POL)	3:2	16-25, 25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9	110 mins
RC CANNES (FRA) - Günes Vakifbank ISTANBUL (TUR)	3:0	25-8, 25-23, 25-21	61 mins

Preliminary Pool B

TENERIFE Marichal (ESP) - Azerrail BAKU (AZE)

3:0

25-19, 25-9, 25-18

61 mins

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

Confédération Européenne de Volleyball

CANNES QUALIFIES WITH STRAIGHT 3:0

Women's Indesit European Champions' League 2004/05

Preliminary Pool A

Preliminary Pool B