Trentino, Lube Banca Marche Macerata and Acqua Paradiso Monza posted wins in the CEV Champions League on Thursday.
Triple European and World champion Trentino PlanetWin365 edged tonight CAI Teruel of Spain in straight sets (25-22, 26-24, and 25-14) to open its campaign in Pool C of the 2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League with the right mood.
In the opening set the hosting team set the rhythm of the game, but at 16:9 the Spaniards of CAI displayed some very good defense and thanks to the efficient attacks of José Miguel Sugranes and James Matthew Webber made things more difficult for Trentino. Czech giant Jan Stokr finally stopped that negative trend and led the Italians to the final 25-22.
CAI Teruel started the second set with a lot of determination and this section of the game was played point for point up to a tie at 21. Thanks to some good tricks CAI initially took control of the money time at 22:23. Two powerful attacks of the Cuban-born spiker Osmany Juantorena got back control of the operations for Trentino thereby seizing the set at 26-24.
In the third set the Italians led all the way through (20:10), keeping up their high level of play and pocketing the victory in straight sets (25-14).
MVP of the match was Stokr with 61% of efficiency in attack and 18 points.
In the next match of the 2012 CEV Volleyball Champions League, scheduled for October 25, Trentino will play Serbia’s Partizan Termoelektro Beograd.
Over in Macerata, Lube Banca Marche had a splendid tournament debut by defeating the winner of last year’s Russian Cup, Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 3:1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22) in Pool E.
The Italians – who are joining Europe’s most elitist competition for the sixth time in their history – claimed a very balanced match, by standing out with their blocks (11 in total) and aces (8).
“This is a very important victory” said head coach Alberto Giuliani, “And being the first match of the League Round this is what really counts, especially because it was pretty tough to swift the game to our side after losing the first set”.
Lokomotiv had indeed set the pace in the opening of the match, especially with their aces; as his guys were trailing down 17:22, coach Giuliani stopped the game and substituted spiker Jiri Kovar with the captain of Italy’s national team, Cristian Savani, but it was too late, as Lokomotiv sealed the final 19-25 after an error of Igor Omrcen.
The score stayed extremely close in set 2 with none of the teams claiming a margin of more than two points up to 17 all; helped by a block of Ryan Millar and an error of Kovar, Lokomotiv stamped a 3-0 break (17:20) and it looked like the Russians were going for the 0:2 as Savani replaced Kovar again but this time he scored 4 aces, bringing Macerata back on track with the help of the stellar defense of libero Jean-François Exiga before Dragan Stankovic aced for the 25-21.
With Serbian middle blockers Marko Podrascanin and Stankovic on fire, Macerata dominated the scene in set 3. The same plot unfolded in the fourth set where Lokomotiv made a lot of mistakes and suffered the pressure put by the Italian spikers, with Igor Omrcen eventually top scoring for the home side with 23 points while opposite Filipp Voronkov totaled 11 for Lokomotiv.
Acqua Paradiso Monza, meanwhile, opened its campaign by edging Finland’s Lakkappää Rovaniemi in straight sets (25-16, 25-14, 25-14) at the “Palaiper” in Monza, the venue that recently played host also to the matches of the EuroVolley 2011 jointly organized by Serbia and Italy.
It was a one-sided game even though the Finns did not surrender that quickly and played with glowing hearts. The guests made too many mistakes to stay tuned but the final result definitely reflects the real leadership shown by Monza.
With the return match coming up next week in Rovaniemi, the best players for the home side were Mauro Gavotto and Sean Rooney together with Argentinean Luciano De Cecco who was voted MVP of the game.
Hypo Tirol Innsbruck lost its home opening game against Fenerbahce Grundig Istanbul in front of a totally sold out crowd with 1:3 (22-25, 15-25, 25-21, 16-25).
1,450 spectators, including over 600 fans of Fenerbahce, celebrated both teams and created an atmosphere which the USI hall in Innsbruck had not seen in the last couple of years. On the court, Fenerbahce demonstrated their strength as a team and was able to take 3 points away from Innsbruck after a 3:1 win.
Tours VB stamped a speedy 3:0 win (2517, 25-19, 25-21) tonight in front of some 2'700 fans at the “Robert Grenon” sports hall to defeat Slovenia’s ACH Volley with an excellent performance of Czech opposite David Konecny.
He immediately set the tone for the home side and Tours VB could seize the opening set pretty easily also with the help of the many errors affecting the Slovenian champion.
Young Serbian star Uros Kovacevic was supposed to play the drums for the comeback of ACH Volley in the second set but the MVP of the 2011 CEV Youth European Championship and winner of gold also at the EuroVolley in Vienna really disappointed tonight scoring only 4 points. On the other side of the net Konecny had a memorable night and with his contribution from the serving area Tours VB pocketed also the second set.
ACH Volley Ljubjana went up for the first time by the first technical stop of set three (7:8) but after the second technical time-out two blocks and one ace of Petr Konecny paved the way for the success of the home guys.
Daniel Lewis, the Canadian libero of ACH Volley, said: “We shall remember this match” as the two sides will be crossing their ways again in the last leg of the League Round.
While David Konecny topscored for Tours VB with 23 points, Alen Sket totaled 17 for the guests from Slovenia.
PGE Skra Belchatow literally outclassed the hosts of Budvanska Rivijera Budva in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-22) to open its campaign in Pool F with the right swing.
Mariusz Wlazly topscored for PGE Skra with 14 points with Bartosz Kurek and Daniel Plinski finishing also in double digits with 10 apiece. The game showed all the limits of Budva and where the guys around head coach Veselin Vukovic stand out there in Europe at the moment. It will be very difficult for Milan Markovic and his friends to repeat last year’s sensation as the team qualified for the Playoffs 12.
Budvanska Rivijera had initially set the pace of the game (8:3, 13:8) but a terrific 0-8 negative break turned things around and PGE Skra went up 13:16 by the second technical time-out of the opening set. Ivan Raic, a player from Croatia’s national team, finally stopped that negative trend but Skra scored the next three (14:19). Head coach Vukovic opted for Nemanja Stevanovic and Vojic Cacic who joined the game by this moment and cut the gap (20:21) before the block of Belchatow stopped Nemanja Dukic twice for the 20:23, paving the way for the final 21-25.
Budva tried to resist with courage in the next couple of sets but did not avoid the straight-set win for its opponents. The match stayed a little closer in set 3 where the hosts set the tempo (8:6) and the score remained tight up to 17 all. There the Poles changed gear and could eventually sail at full speed to the final 25-22.
CEV Champions League Fixtures
25.10.2011
14:30 | VOLLEYBALL
Remat Zalau v Zenit Kazan
17:00 | VOLLEYBALL
CSKA Sofia v Iraklis Thessaloniki
17:00 | VOLLEYBALL
Partizan v Trentino
19:30 | VOLLEYBALL
Maaseik v Arkas Izmir
26.10.2011
13:00 | VOLLEYBALL
Lokomotiv Novosibirsk v Hypo Tirol
17:00 | VOLLEYBALL
Skra Belchatow v Tours
17:30 | VOLLEYBALL
Fenerbache v Lube Macerata
19:15 | VOLLEYBALL
CAI Teruel v Kedzierzyn Kozle
19:15 | VOLLEYBALL
VfB Friedrichshafen v Asse Lennik
19:30 | VOLLEYBALL
Vital Ljubljana v Rivijera Budva
