UVC Holding GRAZ rout LINZ-STEG to make CEV Challenge Cup 8th Finals

CEV, Luxembourg. UVC Holding GRAZ stormed to the 8th Finals of the women’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2021 in emphatic style, as they claimed the second round of the Austrian derby with ASKÖ Steelvolleys LINZ-STEG in three sets (25-19, 25-11, 25-20) to make up for their 2-3 home loss from two weeks ago. The match lasted for 69 minutes only and it was a clear revenge for GRAZ after last Saturday they had lost in three sets to LINZ-STEG in a match scheduled for the latest round of the Austrian national league. 

“To deliver such a performance after losing only a few days ago at the very same venue shows class. Congratulations to our players! They showed an extremely strong performance today. Both teams are very good. If both perform to the best of their abilities, it is always a close affair – just as it was in Graz. If only one team excels, it can end as it did today or last Saturday in the Austrian national league,” summarised UVC Holding GRAZ Sports Director Frederick Laure. Their next opponent in the competition will be Kairos PONTA DELGADA of Portugal: “They have some Brazilian players on their roster, so it is definitely a good team,” Laure continues. The match will be taking place in Istanbul on December 16 as per the revised format of the competition in times of coronavirus. 

LINZ-STEG coach Roland Schwab was obviously not that happy: “Congratulations to the players of GRAZ! They were with their back against the wall after losing two matches in a row against us. The match was a mirror image of the one on Saturday. Only this time the other team played great and won. Unfortunately, such defeats happen. The question is how we deal with it and what lessons we draw. It has to be clear that even after a clear win, in the next match you start again from zero and you have to work hard for every point. It is a shame that we were able to catch up in the third set, but immediately afterwards they scored another series of points!”

The best scorers among the visitors were Ursula Ehrhart (19) and Anna Trubakova (15), while Nikolina Maros (12) and Milena Spasojevic (11) scored the most points for LINZ-STEG. The statistics reflect the result. GRAZ were superior in all elements: attack points 39 vs 33, aces 7 vs 1, blocks 7 vs 3 and own errors 13 vs 22. 

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Hapoel KFAR SABA (ISR) outed in CEV Cup
SC POTSDAM and Hapoel KFAR SABA agreed to play one match only. The Germans claimed this one with 3-0 to continue their journey to the 8th finals of the competition. POTSDAM will be playing either Galatasaray HDI ISTANBUL or Khimik YUZHNY in the next round. 

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