TRENTINO's long-lasting winning streak comes to an end in Moscow

2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League

Luxembourg, January 5, 2010. The 2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League resumed tonight after the traditional Christmas break with Dinamo MOSCOW causing a real upset in front of its home fans as the Russians put an end to the very impressive winning streak of titleholder TRENTINO BetClic of Italy.
Dinamo cruised past the defending champions with a solid 3:1 to start off the New Year in great fashion. Elsewhere, FenerbahceAcibadem ISTANBUL maintains a stunning rhythm with the fourth 3:0 in as many matches, this time crushing the hopes of Aluprof BIELSKO-BIALA. The victories of Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK and Scavolini PESARO completed the program for tonight, with the Austrians taking revenge of the defeat they had suffered in Montenegro against the “orange” guys of Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA.




Results

Men
Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS) vs. TRENTINO BetClic (ITA) 3:1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-21,
Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK (AUT) vs. Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA (MNE) 3:1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-18)

Women
ASPTT MULHOUSE (FRA) vs. Scavolini PESARO (ITA) 0:3 (16-25, 15-25, 18-25)
Aluprof BIELSKO-BIALA (POL) vs. FenerbahceAcibadem ISTANBUL (TUR) 0:3 (19-25, 21-25, 17-25)

Click here for a picture gallery

Click here for additional info about the matches, including detailed statistics

Men

The impressive positive streak of defending champion TRENTINO BetClic (15 matches in a row) ended tonight in Moscow as the Italians suffered a 1:3 upset against Dinamo. Brazilian Leandro Vissotto set the rhythm in the first set spiking well over the Russian block to notch the opening section of the game at 25-23. The second and third set looked like a real battle, but Dinamo performed stronger in the key rallies, especially with Dante. The turning point was actually the stellar performance of the Russian block in the fourth set. Shcherbinin even scored five all alone. The head coach of the Italians, Radostin Stoytchev, tried it out with some back up players such as Sokolov, Zygadlo and Herpe. However, Dinamo extended the lead to 16-11 at the second technical time-out, Poltavskiy scored two aces and the Russians eventually took revenge for their bitter 0:3 defeat in Italy right before Christmas.

In Pool C Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK celebrated a very important victory against a tough opponent in a very exciting game in front of an amazing home crowd in a sold out USI Hall. The visiting team from Budva started out very strong, created big pressure with the serve, played a great defense and was able to take the first set at 25-23. The hosts were facing a difficult situation trailing 0:1 and 9:12 in the second set. This was the moment were the team showed strength, confidence and a lot of character. Step by step the guys of coach Stefan Chrtiansky were able to find their rhythm and their way back into the game. Every single player and the team as a whole started to excel under pressure and picked up their performance level very close to maximum. A fantastic home crowd made the USI Hall into a big party house as soon as the second match point finished an exciting and high level match.  Austrian captain Daniel Gavan stated after the match: “We were able to repeat the performance level of our last home game against Noliko MAASEIK. The start of our game was a little bit nervous, it was not easy for us to play Budva today after we lost in Montenegro in 5 sets 2 weeks ago. But throughout the game we were able to create pressure with our serve and as a result our block could work more efficiently. Our setter, Claudio Carletti, played one of the best games I have seen him play and he deserves a lot of credit today. We are back in the game now and I think our match in Maaseik will be deciding on who will go into the Playoffs.”

Women

It was a demonstration of strength for the Turkish champion FenerbahceAcibadem ISTANBUL that tonight defeated in three straight sets Aluprof BIELSKO-BIALA in Poland. In the first set the guests sped away to 6:3 and they were more accurate in their actions than the hosts. However the players of Aluprof didn’t give up. Some effective services enabled the girls of newly named head coach Mariusz Wiktorowicz to even the score (15:15). But then Fenerbahce showed again its class and gathered the most decisive points of the inaugural set (25:19). The opening of the second set was quite balanced. The Turkish champion led at the first technical break (8:7). They altered the situation after that and in the blink of an eye the distinct favorite achieved a reassuring advantage (17:12). The Poles tried to put some pressure with their services but finally they couldn’t find the way to turn the course of the game. After having lost two sets Aluprof started vigorously into the next stage but the players from Turkey were in really great shape this evening. They built the lead quite consistently and after another good counter-attack they had a five-point margin (16:11). The high-experienced team of coach Jan de Brandt held the advantage and got a comfortable win without losing a set. The best scorer of the match was Ekaterina Gamova who squeezed in with 23 points. During the press conference held after the match, the head coach of FenerbahceAcibadem said: “We expected a very tough match because for Aluprof it was one of the last chances to qualify for the next round. Unfortunately, for the hosts some very experienced players like Dziekiewicz and Swieniewicz could not play tonight. The head coach of Aluprof tried everything but my girls were able to control the game with our great services and blocks”. The Polish coach Mariusz Wiktorowicz commented: “We believed in our chances to notch this match. Our rivals were so good in reception this evening and we couldn’t put real pressure on their receivers. Moreover, we had some problems in attack but in fact, Fenerbahce is a very strong team. For us more the next match against the team from Prostejov will be the real key”.

With another 3:0 victory in France against ASPTT MULHOUSE, in front of about 2’000 spectators, Scavolini PESARO booked a ticket for the Playoffs 12. After a tight start, PESARO maintained a fast pace that the hosts could not tackle with. MULHOUSE was shaky in reception and blocking and the first set ended pretty quickly at 25-16 for the Italians. The second set was more balanced, especially since the French girls played more aggressively. Christina Bauer provided a great contribution in blocking and also with her attacks, but at 9:11 the Italians changed gear for a clear 25-15 with a real show of strength. With the backing coming from the stands, the hosts led the way in the third set (8:6) and maintained some margin up to 14:10. However, PESARO fought back bravely, tied at 16 and with a terrific 11:1 partial the match came to an end for the final 3:0. Katarzyna Skowronska was the best scorer tonight with 16 points while Christina Bauer topped the count for MULHOUSE with 12. “We have a lot of respect for MULHOUSE and we are very happy that we were very concentrated after the Christmas break. The team was very compact and confident” said PESAOR’S mentor Angelo Vercesi. Local coach Magali Magail concluded: “Our service wasn’t good at the beginning but we improved it and we were able to block better. We are disappointed with the bitter end of the third set because we were ahead and didn’t manage to finish the job”.