ACH Volley, Waldviertel and Amstetten book CEV Challenge Cup 8th Final tickets; Aich/Dob and Liberec fall short in CEV Cup

A number of teams have secured their spot in the 8^th Finals of the #CEVChallengeCupM after completion of their respective fixtures in the Round of 32. These include ACH Volley LJUBLJANA as well as two teams from Austria – Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL and VCA NÖ AMSTETTEN. 

ACH Volley celebrated back-to-back wins over their Ukrainian opponents 

ACH Volley LJUBLJANA claimed a spot in the 8^th Finals following their comprehensive 3-1 victory in the re-match with VC Barkom-Kazhany LVIV (20-25, 29-27, 25-17, 25-19). Last week, the ‘Orange Dragons’ from Slovenia had secured a 3-0 victory at home – and with their back against the wall, the hosts from Ukraine had to fight their way back. So they did, leading 4-0 and 10-6 in the first set, which they eventually won 25-20. The score remained close for most of the second set – and at some point, it looked like the home side had the game under their control again. However, ACH Volley fought back to edge their opponents at 29-27. As the third set approached its final stage, ACH Volley broke away and after taking a 25-17 win, the Slovenians made sure they would be the ones to progress to the next round.

After mastering a 3-2 away victory last week, Panathinaikos managed to edge Maccabi Yeadim TEL AVIV at home as well (3-1) to make sure they would take a coveted ticket to the 8th Finals. Among some 1,000 fans in attendance, there were also two 75-year-old Volleyball passionate men – Roulis Agrapidakis supporting Panathinaikos and Oded Shintof of Maccabi Yeadim – who spent some time together in a spirit of true sportsmanship and fair play.

Volleyball connects two 75-year-old fans of Panathinaikos and Maccabi 

“First of all, we must stress that this is a very important moment for Panathinaikos. The club has returned to European competitions after 10 years and it is very important that we could combine our return with the qualification to the next round – doing so against a very strong opponent such as Maccabi. We knew it would come down to details in both games and so it did.” 

Dimitrios Andreopoulos
Head coach of Panathinaikos 

Charalampos Andreopoulos, player Panathinaikos: “This moment is historic for our team. We qualified for the next round of the Challenge Cup, and it feels wonderful. It was an honour to compete against a strong opponent like Maccabi.”

Gal Galili, head coach of Maccabi: “It was a very tough game in a fantastic atmosphere. We showed we deserved something better, and we tried our best. Good luck to Panathinaikos.”

Kyle Ensing, player of Maccabi: “It was a good game between two strong teams. We tried to go for the best possible result, but we did not manage to qualify. Nevertheless, we gave our battle and showed that we can stand even at an international level.”

Maccabi Yeadim TEL AVIV played a good series against Panathinaikos.

Two Austrian teams – Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL and VCA NÖ AMSTETTEN have reached the 8^th Finals of the competition as well. Union Raiffeisen were victorious in their two matches against Viking TIF BERGEN of Norway. The Austrians had won the first match 3-1 – and after taking the first and second sets from the second fixture, they had already punched their ticket to the next round.

VCA NÖ AMSTETTEN caused a surprise through their Golden Set victory over Levski SOFIA 

“We played very well for two sets; after that, our opponents fought back. After all, we were able to win this game. Halkbank ANKARA in the next round will be an exciting task. They are of a different calibre.” 

Daan Streutker
Player of Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL and top scorer with 23 points

VCA NÖ AMSTETTEN managed to spring a surprise, winning the second match with Levski SOFIA 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19) to secure the right to contest a Golden Set – where they had the upper hand at 16-14. They will now play LAUSANNE UC of Switzerland in the next round of the competition.

Michael Henschke, Sports Director of VCA NÖ AMSTETTEN: “I am at loss for words. This was our best game of the year. It is unbelievable that we turned it around after yesterday’s defeat. You could tell from the first point how much our players wanted this victory. They really put everything into this evening’s match and that makes me proud.”

The third Austrian team in the competition, UVC Weberzeile RIED IM INNKREIS, failed to make up for their heavy home loss and despite taking two sets from Volley SCHÖNENWERD, the Swiss team will continue their journey in the Challenge Cup.

SK Zadruga Aich/Dob and VK Dukla Liberec stopped by heavyweights Skra and Zenit KAZAN in CEV Cup 

After losing 0-3 last week in Poland, the players of VK Dukla LIBEREC had a mountain to climb in their re-match with PGE Skra BELCHATOW scheduled for the 16^th Finals of the CEV Cup. They managed to take at least one set this time, but pre-favourite Skra eventually progressed to the next round. 

“I started to work with the team only three days ago and I wanted to make sure they would find their pace in this game – I think we succeeded in doing so. Of course, Skra were the favourites but we put up a fight.” 

Petr Brom 
Head coach of VK Dukla LIBEREC 

Petr Brom, who has been at the helm of the Czech team for a very short time, had to make some changes to his starting six as his side trailed 11-15 in the opening set. However, even the substitutions could not turn the tide around and the Poles eventually won the first set 25-20. Skra continued to set the pace of the game in the second set, which ended at 25-17 in their favour – and at that point, they had booked their ticket to the next round.

With nothing more to lose, Dukla played more relaxed in the third set and claimed a 14-10 advantage. Skra’s head coach Radoslaw Kolanek asked for a time-out at 19-16 for the Czech team but a service error by the Polish standout eventually sealed a 25-23 set win for Dukla. The two teams exchanged the lead back and forth in the fourth set – but this time Skra’s players remained more focussed to close the set and match in their favour at 25-23.

“We hoped to win two sets to advance to the next round. We are happy, because we controlled the game in the first two sets. After that, we started to play a bit worse and the opponent performed extremely well. We are happy for the result.” 

Grzegorz Lomacz 
Captain of Skra 

Jakub Vesely, captain of Dukla: “I am proud of my team, since even after losing the first two sets we continued to fight and won the third set. If we play like we did today in the CEV Cup, I hope we will perform better in our national league too.”

Radoslaw Kolanek, head coach of PGE Skra BELCHATOW: “It is always difficult when you play away from home. I think we played as a team. Our setter Grzegorz Lomacz played extremely well. In the third set, however, we had some problems. Later it was a bit of a strange game for us. Congratulations to our opponent, as they played really better than they had done in Belchatow, but we fought to win this game. A victory was the most important thing for us.”

Russia’s Zenit KAZAN, whose roster includes world and Olympic champions, claimed back-to-back wins in their matches with SK Zadruga AICH/DOB of Austria. The six-time Champions League winners did not drop a single set but the Austrians put up more of a fight in the second fixture with the Russian standout.

“To dream of a promotion to the next round would have been completely unrealistic. I am satisfied with what we did, especially in the second match. All players had the opportunity to take to the court and we had four Austrians standing on the court. In the second set, we were close to cause a surprise, the opponents did not like that at all and they just thumped us in the third set. It is a different level, these matches were an experience for our players. They only see such top stars on TV.”

Martin Micheu 
Sports Director of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB

News:
CEV – European Volleyball
OZS – Volleyball Slovenia
ÖVV – Volleyball Austria
IVA – Volleyball Israel
CVF – Czech Volleyball