CANNES ELIMINATE DEFENDING CHAMPION IN SEMI-FINAL

Women's Indesit European Champions' League 2005/06

Cannes, France, March 18, 2006. In the final of the women’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2005/06 host RC CANNES will meet Pallavolo Sirio PERUGIA from Italy on Sunday. Whilst CANNES beat defending champion Foppapedretti BERGAMO 3:1 in the first semi-final, PERUGIA saved the Italian honour by defeating Vakifbank Günes ISTANBUL 3:2.

RC CANNES (FRA) vs. Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA) 3:1 (25-16, 25-20, 13-25, 25-23)
Best scorers: Malgorzata Glinka (RC CANNES/21 points), Victoria Ravva (RC CANNES/19 points), Eva Yaneva (RC CANNES/13 points), Angelina Grün and Riikka Lehtonen (Foppapedretti BERGAMO/11 points)

CANNES stormed off with a 10-2 lead, scoring on attack as well as block, until 19-year-old Serena Ortolani stopped their winning streak (10-3). Successful blocks by BERGAMO’s Maja Poljak and captain Paola Paggi reduced the advantage, but Pole Malgorzata Glinka saved an important eight-point buffer (14-6). In the deciding moment of the set (22-15), CANNES fought tremendously in defense, finally finishing off the points in their favour. Whilst BERGAMO defended the first set point at 24-14, Glinka secured the second set point with a confident attack (25-16).

The French home team never let go of their beginning lead (2-1) which increased thanks to strong blocks by Swede Angelica Ljungquist (6-3). Whilst Paggi and Angelina Grün pointed for BERGAMO, Bulgarian Yaneva and captain Victoria Ravva scored for CANNES (11-8). German Grün stood out in the second set, managing to keep her team in reach (11-10). The teams shared points and the lead (14-14, 16-15). Yaneva and Ravva attacked with success for CANNES (19-17), also profiting from rare errors by the opposing team (22-18). Former CANNES player Riikka Lehtonen attacked with success for the defending champion, but Glinka was too safe with her spikes (23-19), acing for the first set point in the second set (24-19). Again, Lehtonen scored from the right (24-20), but Yaneva sealed the 2:0 home lead (25-20).
Both teams committed few errors, demonstrating a high level of volleyball. Whilst CANNES started better again (2-0), BERGAMO increasingly pulled through their attacks, in particular by Grün and Francesca Piccinini (6-10). An untypical spiking error by Glinka gave the Italians double as many points (6-12) as CANNES. Maja Poljak’s solid block followed an attack (7-14), before Paggi attacked ‘in’ and Olga Tocko on the other hand smashed ‘out’ (7-16).With a confident advantage, the Italians stormed further (9-20). Although Ravva motivated her team by scoring with a smash and an ace (12-21), BERGAMO scored when the point already seemed lost (12-23, 12-24). On second set point, CANNES didn’t manage to block Francesca Piccinini’s diagonal spike (13-25).
Two unforced faults by CANNES gave BERGAMO a leeway in the fourth set, making them stronger physically and mentally with each point (2-7). Ravva and Glinka put BERGAMO under pressure in attack (7-9), whilst the guest team lost their starting rhythm a little (9-10). When Grün’s attack landed out of bounds and Yaneva attacked with success, CANNES took over the lead (11-10). No side managed to pull away from the other (15-15), but when Ravva scored and Lozancic blocked a smash by Piccinini CANNES led by two points (17-15). Poljak successfully blocked Glinka twice, keeping her team in the game (19-17). Yaneva scored for the 21-18 home lead, but BERGAMO came back (21-20), rendering the audience full of excitement. After Yaneva scored again (22-20), Paggi pointed (22-21), but Lehtonen served ‘out’ (23-21). Amazing defense work by CANNES didn’t pay off with Piccinini scoring at the end (23-22). However, Glinka provided for the first match point (24-22), which was successfully defended by Piccinini (24-23). With Grün on serve, BERGAMO failed to block Glinka’s attack, closing the match in favour of the host team (25-23).

Paola Paggi (BERGAMO captain): “We made too many mistakes at the beginning of the match, which already put us behind a lot.”
Marco Fenoglio (BERGAMO head coach): “CANNES played strong and deserved to win. The public made a big difference.”

Victoria Ravva (CANNES captain): “I don’t know what to say right now as I’m overly excited. I hope to be able to calm down by tomorrow’s final. Thanks to the 5’000 supporters. They were definitely an advantage to our game.”
Yan Fang (CANNES head coach): “We have a lot of respect for BERGAMO as they are one of Europe’s best. I think though that we had an advantage in terms of preparation as the French championship is not as challenging as the Italian championship.”

Vakifbank Günes ISTANBUL (TUR) vs. Pallavolo Sirio PERUGIA (ITA) 2:3 (20-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 9-15)
Best scorers: Neslihan Demir (Vakifbank Günes ISTANBUL/32 points), Mirka Francia (Pallavolo Sirio PERUGIA/29 points)

During the first set no team managed to pull away decisively, the difference being a maximum of two points. At 19-21, PERUGIA won the subsequent point followed by an ace (19-23). Mirka Francia smashed the Italian team to the first set point (19-24), but her second attack was blocked by Neslihan Demir (20-24). Still, Italian Lucia Crisanti booked the next attack for PERUGIA’s first set win (20-25).
ISTANBUL’s top scorer Neslihan Demir brought ISTANBUL in front (7-5), but ‘Europe’s Best Player 2005’ Dorota Swieniewicz and Brazilian Mirka Francia reacted (10-8). With Demir on serve the Turks pulled away 16-12. Although PERUGIA came up close near the end of the set, ISTANBUL managed to retain the lead, levelling the score to 1:1.
Whilst Francia scored for PERUGIA, Demir secured points for ISTANBUL (8-7). At 10-9, PERUGIA had to do without their Bulgarian Antonina Zetova who unluckily sprained her ankle during a rally. Two mistakes by the Italians gave ISTANBUL a three-point leeway (14-11), which they retained (15-12, 16-13). Turkish Gözde Kirdar brought her colours further (17-13). At 20-16, PERUGIA only reacted once more before a block by captain Aysun Ozbek, as well as two smashes and a block by Tatiana Santos secured the third set 25-17 in ISTANBUL’s favour.
The fourth set was open up until 10-10 when Brazilian Mirka Francia scored after a good team save. Errors in the Turkish team allowed PERUGIA to advance even further with 19-year-old Senna Usic attacking and 20-year-old Lucia Crisanti blocking with success (11-16). Hence, it was only a matter of time before PERUGIA claimed the fourth set in their favour, mainly thanks to Senna Usic, Mirka Francia and Walewska Moreira de Oliveira collecting the deciding points (17-25).
Following a series of attack mistakes at 6-6 in the tiebreak set, ISTANBUL lost track (6-10), finally conceding the fifth set 9-15. Francia, Usic and captain Swieniewicz booked the crucial points.

Aysun Ozbek (ISTANBUL captain): “We played well but PERUGIA were stronger. I guess the young age of our team and less experience played a key role in today’s match.”
Volodymyr Buzayev (ISTANBUL head coach): “Congratulations to PERUGIA, I just hope they will recover Antonina Zetova on time for tomorrow’s match.”

Dorota Swieniewicz (PERUGIA captain): “I’m happy to have won, although not with the way we won. We committed many errors in reception, serve as well as on a tactical level.”
Massimo Barbolini (PERUGIA head coach): “It’s a great success to have reached the final of the Champions’ League. This is the result not of only one year’s work but of two. I hope we will improve our performance for tomorrow’s final as we made many mistakes in defense.”

The final between RC CANNES (FRA) and Pallavolo Sirio PERUGIA (ITA) will take place on Sunday, 19th March 2006 at 17.00 hrs local time.

The European Cups competitions final phase will conclude with the highlight of the season, namely the men’s Indesit European Champions’ League Final Four in Rome (ITA) from 25-26 March 2006.

Photo Gallery

Women’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2005/06
Final Four in Cannes (FRA)
Results, Saturday 18th March 2006

Semi-finals

RC CANNES (FRA) - Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA)	3:1	25-16, 25-20, 13-25, 25-23
Vakifbank Günes ISTANBUL (TUR) - Pallavolo Sirio PERUGIA (ITA)	2:3	20-25, 25-22, 25-17, 17-25, 9-15

Further match schedule

19.03.2006	14.30	Bronze medal match	Foppapedretti BERGAMO (ITA) vs. Vakifbank Günes ISTANBUL (TUR)
19.03.2006	17.00	Final	RC CANNES (FRA) vs. Pallavolo Sirio PERUGIA (ITA)

Confédération Européenne de Volleyball

CANNES ELIMINATE DEFENDING CHAMPION IN SEMI-FINAL

Women's Indesit European Champions' League 2005/06