Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE, Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO and E.A. PATRON join Challenge Round

2009/2010 CEV Cup - Men

Luxembourg, February 3, 2010. Poland’s Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE, Italian Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO and E.A. PATRON joined tonight Iskra ODINTSOVO in the Challenge Round of the CEV Cup to play there four teams that were dropped down to this competition after having finished in third place their respective preliminary pools in the CEV Indesit Champions League.
In front of 2’100 spectators Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE defeated tonight Arkas IZMIR of Turkey in four sets (19-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-18) to notch a spot for the Challenge Round of the CEV Cup, thus reversing the outcome of the first match-up that last week in Turkey had ended at the tie-break for the hosts. The match did not start very well for the Poles who lost the first set 19-25. The Turks displayed some solid defense attacked with a very good efficiency. As they benefited of some poor actions of local hero Jakub Jarosz, the Turks sailed to the provisional 15-11 and the Polish coach, former international player Krzysztof Stelmach, substituted Jarosz with Dominik Witczak. The hosts closed a bit the gap but still were struggling at 18:21. Finnish spiker Tuomas Sammelvuo did not find the right way through the Turkish block and the set was quickly over. In the second set Canadian/Irish Terence Martin replaced Sammelvuo. Martin blocked his friend Paul Duerden and Robert Szczerbaniuk served an ace so that Zaksa immediately took control of the operations. At the first technical break the hosts led the way 8:5. With Ruciak and Martin in the right mood, the Poles extended their lead first up to 16:11 and later on to 21:16. It seemed the roles had reversed since the guests did not resemble to the confident team they looked in the first set, before Zaksa closed it at 25-20. The third set was balanced with a first break coming right before the second technical time-out (16:12). With an ace of Ukrainian Yuriy Gladyr the hosts sailed to the provisional 18:13. Arkas's coach called a time-out but a few seconds later Ruciak stamped a mighty spike for the 21:14. The central figure of this set, Michał Ruciak, hit also from the back row and the set count moved to 2:1 for the Poles. The fourth set started with the two teams staying very close in the score. After the first technical break, the guests could not stop any longer the well motivated players of Zaksa. After a last storm that brought the score back to 14:13, the Poles were in full control of the game and with a series of imposing blocks finished their job at 25-18. The Polish team will play Italian star-studded team CoprAtlantide PIACENZA in the Challenge Round, the very last step before the final four to be celebrated in late March.

After having clipped a 3:1 victory in the first match staged last week in France, Italy’s Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO needed to score a couple of sets tonight against TOURCOING Lille Métropole to qualify for the Challenge Round of the 2009/2010 CEV Cup. The Italians did even more for the delight of the home fans, cruising to a quick 3:0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-20) with a solid performance in all areas. Bre Banca Lannutti faced some resistance only in the first set, but then sped up the rhythm for a quick 3:0, which sounds very good especially since captain Wout Wijsmans was not playing tonight. With his stellar actions in defense, French-born libero Hubert Henno was voted MVP of the match for CUNEO. In the Challenge Round the Italians will play Spain’s CAI TERUEL, one of the four teams that were dropped down from the draw of the CEV Indesit Champions League.

The all Greek derby featuring E.A. PATRON and Iraklis THESSALONIKI ended with a golden set after last year's runner-up in the Champions League had seized the return match with a 3:1. E.A. PATRON needed only 13 minutes to score the golden set 15-11 and qualify for the Challenge Round to play there Noliko MAASEIK. E.A. PATRON qualified for the Challenge Round of the CEV Cup after the return match against Iraklis ended with a 3:1 for THESSALONIKI but the guys of coach Giorgos Christopoulos scored a convincing 15-11 in the deciding golden set. Iraklis started the game very powerfully and with the help of 2’000 fans notched easily the first set at 25-13. Coach Freddy Brooks decided to include in his starting line-up Venezuelan Thomas Ereu Santander who played his first game ever with the team of Iraklis and helped a lot in reception.
Iraklis scored the second set pretty easily as well at 25-17, but E.A. PATRON bounced back to notch the third. Coach Christopoulos decided to give a rest to Andrey Zhekov and Boyan Yordanov and replace the Bulgarian duo with Ioannis Livathinos and Apostolos Armenakis. These two players helped a lot their team to score the 22-25 that moved the set count to 2:1 for Iraklis. Iraklis tried again to stop the attackers of E.A. PATRON and in the fourth set played better to cruise to the final 25-17 and 3:1. In the golden set Konstantinos Prousalis served an ace for the provisional lead of Iraklis (5:3), but E.A. PATRON turned the score around and finished the job at 15-11. Slovak-born Andrej Kravarik, captain of Iraklis THESSALONIKI, stated after the match: “We started the game very well but after the second set we didn’t continue with the same rhythm. We gave a chance to E.A. PATRON to take the third set and then we lost the control of our game. We must forget this game and concentrate on our campaigns in the Greek league and National Cup”.


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Click here for more information about the matches and a detailed draw of the Challenge Round