Zenit KAZAN is still on a roll

2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League

Luxembourg, January 13, 2010. Zenit KAZAN of Russia remains the last team with a clean record in the League Round of the 2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League. The Russians overpowered tonight Unicaja ALMERIA in straight sets. In the women’s competition, two other Russian teams, Universitet BELGOROD versus Volley BERGAMO as well as Zarechie ODINTSOVO against Bank BPS Fakro MUSZYNIANKA proved to be too strong for their opponents.

Results

Men
Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE vs. TRENTINO BetClic 1:3 (22:25, 18:25, 25:23, 20:25)
Olympiacos PIRAEUS vs. Dinamo MOSCOW 3:2 (25:22, 23:25, 25:23, 23:25, 15:10)
Zenit KAZAN vs. Unicaja ALMERIA 3:0 (25:15, 25:20, 29:27)
Lube Banca Marche MACERATA vs. Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA 3:0 (25:20, 25:18, 25:20)
Noliko MAASEIK vs. Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK 2:3 (25:15, 19:25, 25:12, 22:25, 12:15)
Radnicki KRAGUJEVAC vs. PGE Skra BELCHATOW 0:3 (23:25, 28:30, 23:25)
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel S.A. vs. CoprAtlantide PIACENZA 3:2 (18:25, 25:19, 19:25, 25:19, 15:11)
VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN vs. Panathinaikos ATHENS 3:0 (25:20, 25:19, 25:15)
Asseco Resovia RZESZOW vs. PARIS Volley 2:3 (25:21, 21:25, 20:25, 25:17, 10:15)
ISTANBUL B.Sehir Belediyesi vs. ACH Volley BLED 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:21)

Women
Universitet BELGOROD vs. Volley BERGAMO 3:1 (25:22, 25:23, 20:25, 25:20)
ASPTT MULHOUSE vs. Enion Energia DABROWA GORNICZA 1:3 (14:25, 23:25, 25:19, 13:25)
Zarechie ODINTSOVO vs. Bank BPS Fakro MUSZYNIANKA 3:0 (25:19, 25:21, 25:22)
Metal GALATI vs. Asystel NOVARA 0:3 (19:25, 20:25, 18:25)

Click here for additional info about the matches and detailed pool standings

Click here for a picture gallery


Men

Russian Zenit KAZAN won their fifth consecutive match of the main phase of the Men’s CEV Indesit European Champions League and secured their first place in Pool B. On Wednesday night, the Russian champions won their home match against Unicaja ALMERIA in straight sets (25-15, 25-20, 29-27). The Spaniards experienced too many troubles in passing, whilst Kazan’s players controlled the net. Maxim Panteleymonenko, Zenit KAZAN’s top spiker, became the most effective player of the match, scoring 13 points. Bogdan Olteanu became the most effective player of Unicaja ALMERIA with 12 kills. “I gave some younger players the chance to play, they did a good job”, said Kazan’s head coach Vladimir Alekno. “We tried our best”, said Spanish head coach Carlos Carreno, “but Kazan proved too strong for my players.”

In the penultimate game of the competition in Pool F PARIS Volley overcame Asseco Resovia RZESZOW 3-2 (25-21, 21-25-, 20-25, 25-17, 10-15) after very exciting and dramatic thriller. After earlier defeat of ACH Volley Bled in ISTANBUL (0-3) it was clear that RZESZOW needed only one more victory to secure the leadership in Pool F whereas PARIS lost their chances to be in contention in the CICL. Despite the different goals for both teams nearly 4.000 supporters in Podpromie sports hall saw some fantastic volleyball and many incredible actions in defense. The top scorer of the game was Asseco Resovia opposite Mikko Oivanen (27 points) however the MVP of the game was Marcel Gromadowski (PARIS Volley) who scored 25 points (22 in attack and 3 in service). After four hard-fought sets, Paris kick started into the final set with a 4-0 lead thanks to the mighty services and attacks of Marcel Gromadowski. When Mikko Oivanen and Aleh Akhrem sent the ball wide, the situation became dramatic for RZESZOW (2-8). Resovia head coach decided to put the captain Krzysztof Gierczynski in place of Aleh Akhrem but the guests were keeping their momentum and controlling the score (2-10). Hosts had huge problems with reception (smart services presented by Stepan Smrcka were crucial). An ace by captain Krzysztof Gierczynski gave the local team small hope (5-10), however it was difficult to turn around the dramatic situation (6-13 after the block on Gierczynski). Resovia managed to cut the margin (9-13, 10-14), but PARIS eventually achieved their first victory in this edition of the CICL.

In that same Pool Turkish champion ISTANBUL B. Sehir Belediyesi defeated tonight ACH Volley BLED of Slovenia in three sets. Best scorer of the match was local matador Erhan Dunge with 13 points. “We had problems with our reception which of course resulted in problems in other aspects like the block defense. We know that our chances of qualifying for the second round are still alive. So we will focus on our next game” said the head coach of ACH Volley Glenn Hoag. Local mentor Nedim Ozbey added: “The Slovenian team is the most versatile in the group. We are happy that we won and we hope to win our next game against PARIS Volley.” Turkish captain Ulas Kiyak concluded: “We had lost our previous two games. We knew that we had to win this game if we wanted to keep our chances to make it to the second round. Now all we have to do is to defeat the French and wait for the result of the game featuring BLED and RZESZOW”.

German champion VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN got its fourth victory in the CEV Indesit Champions League 2009/2010 and qualified for the second round, the play-off 12. In front of 4.000 spectators in the sold out ZF Arena Friedrichshafen the Germans won in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, 25-15) against Greek vice-champion Panathinaikos ATHENS. Best scorer of the match was Georg Grozer from FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, who scored 16 points. “Compliments to my boys. They showed an excellent performance tonight”, said Stelian Moculescu, head coach of FRIEDRICHSHAFEN. “We knew that we could qualify for the next round with a victory.” German star Georg Grozer was really satisfied about the qualification for the play-off 12: “I am totally happy to be in the next round. ATHENS was a big opponent. We were nervous in the beginning, but we played together as a team and won.” With this result FRIEDRICHSHAFEN will keep its first place in Pool E. Actually on the second place ranges Panathinaikos ATHENS. To stay there and reach the next round the Greek need to win one set in the last match against third ranked team Jastrzebski Wegiel (POL) next week. “We played badly today. But now we are going to win this one missing set”, said Sotirios Pantaleon, captain of Panathinaikos. “We have the next round in our own hands.”

In Pool D in Kragujevac, the favorites from PGE Skra BELCHATOW won their important game against CICL debutant Radnicki KRAGUJEVAC in straight sets. In the middle of the first period, PGE Skra opened a four points gap thanks to good services of Wlazly and Kurek, and poor reception of home team. Although Skra played constant during the whole second set, Radnicki got a first set ball. In a very interesting finish, Belchatow used their fourth set point to take a 2:0 lead. Even when KRAGUJEVAC showed some great volleyball in the third set, BELCHATOW didn't let loose. Great Mariusz Wlazly told at press conference that they were very lucky, because Radnicki played much better than in Poland. Serbian head coach Slobodan Kovac was happy with their game. „The difference between both teams results in discipline in deciding situations. If we played like this against the other two teams, the result would probably be better“, said Kovac.

In Pool C, Lube Banca Marche Macerata defeated Budvanska Rivijera Budva 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-20) and got the arithmetic qualification for the playoffs of CEV Indesit Champions League. On the other hand, the Montenegrins are definitely out of competition, remaining on the last position of the ranking with 6 points. The match was quite easy for the Italian team, who again couldn’t line up Czech blocker Martin Lebl, libero Mirko Corsano, and at the last moment also other libero Lorenzo Smerilli (he gave up due to a knee problem during warm up, and was replaced by Alessandro Paparoni). Macerata dominated the game with very strong serves (4 aces) and a huge block (14 kills for Macerata, just 2 for Budva). The best scorer for the Italians was blocker Marko Podrascanin with 13 points, for the Montenegrins opposite Milos Culafic with 18 points. Ferdinando De Giorgi, head coach of Lube Banca Marche said: “We really wanted this victory because it gave us the qualification for playoff 12. Now we’ll go to play in Innsbruck without pressure, even if we really want win also there to earn the best possible position in the final ranking of the 12 teams. Today I couldn’t line up some important players, but those who had entered the court did their best, and I’m so happy for the result and for the good level we played.”
In the other duel of Pool C between Noliko Maaseik ans Hypo Tirol Innsbruck, the Austrian team kept cool in the fifth set, overpowering hosts 3:2 (15-12). In spite of a 3-1 Noliko lead in the deciding set, Innsbruck returned to 6-6 and took the lead at 10-7 which was enough to pull through. Jago blocked Van Walle for a 12-9 Innsbruck lead. Then Klapwijk served into the net for a first Austrian match ball, which Jago concluded bravely. Maaseik’s Captain Van Decraen found the key point in the second set: "We should have won the second set but gave it away. Innsbruck had more ups and downs than we had, but at the crucial moments, we weren't ready.”

Olympiacos PIRAEUS defeated Dinamo MOSCOW in a dramatic five-setter and captured the second spot in Pool A of the CEV Indesit Champions League. After some spectacular play during four sets, Olympiacos PIRAEUS, with some missiles from Ivan MILJKOVIC and Leonardo CALDEIRA, and the great help of the fans who attended the match, achieved to win the tie-break 15:10. At the end of the match, Olympiacos PIRAEUS’s head coach Anders KRISTIANSSON said: “We showed a very good game, contrary to our first match in Moscow”. Olympiacos PIRAEUS’s super star Ivan MILJKOVIC (32 points) added: “We wanted this victory very much, and we finally did it. Now we focus on our next match against our rival team Panathinaikos ATHENS”. Dinamo MOSCOW’s MVP, Amaral Dante, said: “It was a very tight game. Congratulations to Olympiacos PIRAEUS for this great win”.

The Polish underdogs from KS JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel beat CopraAtlantide Piacenza 3:2 in Pool E. It was the second consecutive match in the CEV Indesit Champions League won by KS Jastrzebski. 3,000 thousands enthusiastic fans, wearing the club's orange t-shirts, supported the Poles in their clash with CopraAtlantide. Daniel Castellani, the coach of the Polish national team, was among them. "I'm glad that I came to Jastrzebie, because it was a great match with some exciting moments", commented Daniel Castellani after the game. Finally, it was a tie-break which decided about the final result. Point for point rivalry took place in the decisive set. The Italians were leading 4 to 2, but KS Jastrzebski managed to take the lead (8-7,12-10). Substitute Sebastian Pecherz was one of the heros of the match winning the crucial points, but it was middle Adam Nowik who won the last ball. "Without any doubt it was an interesting match. Unfortunately, some players in my team are not in a good form now. I'm not talking about the physical, but technical one. We missed our chance, didn't finish well some good balls", complains Angelo Lorenzetti, CopraAtlantide Piacenza's head coach. "Our coach Robert Santilli preperad us well before the match. We knew everything about the weak points of the Italian team, especially about their poor reception. On the other hand in the crucial moments we were able to win the important points. We are in good shape, so we go to Athens for the next match with great hopes", added Russian Pavel Abramov, KS Jastrzebski's leader. Leonel Marshall was the best scorer of the match winning 21 points. Pedro Azenha won 19 points for the Poles.

Italian champion TRENTINO BetClic came to the Czech Republic as clear favorit of this match of Pool A. Domestic team Jihostroj started without respect and played one of the best matches during this season. Jihostroj’s Radek Motys was absent due to injury, so the young players from Jihostroj had the chance to get some experience in an international match. JIHOSTROJ tried to win at least one set and played really great. In the third set the Czechs led 16:13 and the Italian guests started to be a little bit nervous. All fans were still excited when the score was 23:22 for the home team. Great defence from young libero Juračka brought set point for Jihostroj – and some moments later the Czechs celebrated an unexpected set win. Nevertheless, Trentino was the better team, closing it out in four sets. Best scorer of the match was Italian star Osmany Juantorena with 21 points.

Women

After yesterday’s defeat of Croatian ZOK RIJEKA versus French RC CANNES it was obvious that Universitet BELGOROD had already qualified for play-offs, but Belgorod team decided to play in full power against the defending champion of the CEV Indesit Champions League Volley BERGAMO. Bergamo’s head coach Lorenzo Micelli decided to give some rest to his main players. Nevertheless, names and titles of Volley BERGAMO still made a stronger impression than those of the Belgorod team. But sport does not obey the logics and Universitet weakened by injuries of the key players managed to win over the well-known team in the volleyball world from Bergamo. Italian team started the match calm and confident. After an ace by Francesca Piccinini, Volley BERGAMO took a two-point lead at the second technical time-out – 16:14. Though Italian coach used both time-outs, Universitet quickly took a comfortable lead at 21:18 to finish the set in their favor 25:22. During the second set Belgorod students were ahead and never let the Italians catch up with them. Only in the third set notable Italian club could tune up reception, defense and attacking due to some frazzle and relaxation. Volley BERGAMO also started the fourth set well, but after the time-out of Universitet head coach Evgeny Sivkov his team completely changed and while Natalia Kulikova serving her partners made an amazing get-away at 7:8 point having scored 9 points in a row to make the score-table show 16:8. Desperate Italian chase had hardly succeeded to minimize the gap to 3 points, but Universitet was extremely confident at the end of the set to celebrate its third victory in the CEV Indesit Champions League – 3:1 (25:22, 25:23, 20:25, 25:20).

Victory for Asystel Novara in Buzau against CSU Metal Galati: The Italian team claimed an easy win (25-19, 25-20, 25-18 ) and took the lead in Pool D. Financial problems caused an earthquake at CSU Metal Galati. Before the match six players refused to start for the important fight against Asystel Novara. Three of them returned to the team after some discussions. With only 9 players Metal Galati started the match very courageously. The first set was balanced until 17-17, but with Logan Tom and Manon Flier in a great shape Novara won the set 25-19. In the second set the home team built up an 8-4 lead with Sadurek serving for five successive points. Metal continued the good period and Ana Maria Berdila (16 years) scored the first points in CEV Indesit Champions League and took the Romanian champions at 16-14. The strong come back from the Italians demolished the Romanian dreams, and Novara won the second set 25-20. Novara played at a high level in the third set with Kozuch, Flier and Logan at their best in attack, taking a six-point lead at 18-12. The Italians kept cool, winning the duel in straight sets.

In Pool B, Dabrowa Gornicza has experienced a brilliant win in Palais des Sport against Mulhouse and is qualified for the next round of the competition. As planned, Mulhouse had a fast start leading quickly 8-5 but Gornicza was back from first technical time-out with other intentions. This time the pace was too fast for the French team. The Kawka Waldemar players had an incredible 14-3 run to lead 19-11 especially thanks to a huge block (5 block points in the set) and the 7 points of Ewelina Sieczka. Gornicza managed its lead and won easily 25-14. The Polish team started the second set with same level of play and made quickly a 7 points break (10-3). Mulhouse couldn’t react; opponents were just too strong for the home team. But at 6-17 Mulhouse waked-up and cut the lead to 4 (14-18). Boosted by the 1200 spectators of Palais des Sports, Mulhouse tied at 23, moment chosen by Gornicza to refind its mind and won the two last points of the set (25-23). Third set was more balanced than 2 first sets, 8-7 at first technical time-out. In the middle of the set Mulhouse accelerated and made a break, leading by 5 (18-13) and won its first set of the competition (25-19). In the fourth set, Gornicza re-took control of the game, refinding efficiency at block and power in attack and finally had a logical 3 to 1 win (25-13 in the fourth). Aleksandra Liniarska was the player of the game with 18 points. Myriam Kloster was at top for Mulhouse with 14 points. “We are satisfied of the result even if the match was more difficult than in Poland” said Kawka Waldemar. Magali Magail said: “We played against a stronger team; we knew that we had to serve and receive very well, we didn’t, so we lost. However, we found again our assets of fighting spirit and a good state of mind. We will use them to continue the championship on which we’ll focus now.” Armelle Faesch, captain of Mulhouse, added: “We are very disappointed but I think we’ll be able to overcome that and do our best to qualify again to the Champions League next year.”