KARLOVARSKO wins historic first set in CEV Champions League

CEV, Luxembourg.  The German side of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN keep top spot in Pool E, after securing their second win in Trento. Where on Tuesday they dropped a set against Czech side KARLOVARSKO, they were more efficient on Wednesday when 2013 Champions League winners Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK were the opponents. It resulted in a steady straight set win (25-20, 25-23, 25-22). The Italian side of TRENTINO Itas are benefitting fully from playing at home, despite having to cope with missing their two setters. Dutchman Nimir Abdel-Aziz stepped up once more and led his team to a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20) victory. TRENTINO will face FRIEDRICHSHAFEN on Thursday for the top spot of Pool E.

VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (GER) vs Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK (RUS) 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-22)

The dominance of the German side was obvious from the first set, where opposite Linus Weber scored as many as nine points. When the points mattered most, FRIEDRICHSHAFEN managed to force an important gap. From 16-16 on they created a 5-point lead, and they eventually won the set by 25-20.

‘Die Häfler’ were leading for most of the second set, but after losing four points in a row it became tight. With just a one-point advantage they secured a setpoint. Marko Ivovic hit his serve in the net and gave FRIEDRICHSHAFEN a 2-0 lead.

In the third set NOVOSIBIRSK made too many faults, on decisive moments they were unable to find the right chemistry. FRIEDRICHSHAFEN won 25-22 and secured their second win. They lead Pool E with six full points from two matches. On Thursday they will face hosts TRENTINO.

• Linus Weber (FRIEDRICHSHAFEN) and Drazen Luburic (NOVOSIBIRSK) scored 19 and 18 points, respectively.
• They weren’t chosen as the MVP, that honour went to Martti Juhkami for scoring 15 points, among which were 4 blocks.
• FRIEDRICHSHAFEN outblocked NOVOSIBIRSK 10 to 4.

Petar Shopov, Head Coach of Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK: “I think tonight the game was under the influence of huge physical and psychological fatigue. We played against a very strong team, they played well in defense and their reception was good. The match meant a lot for us. During the first and second sets I felt that Slavi Kostadinov might not be able to handle this pressure. The substitution in the third set has showed that he still lacks experience in some moments. Tomorrow we will play KARLOVARSKO. We will do some scouting, talk in the locker room and get ready to win.”

Dmitry Shcherbinin, Middle Blocker for Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK: “We must pay tribute to FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, the setter Dejan Vincic played well. We absolutely failed on the block, the opponent was better in defense. They played traditional European volleyball showing impossible saves. Our team work was bad: every player in the German team knew his place and what to do, but we were confused. My state of health is not perfect yet. However, it is much better – thanks to our doctors. They do everything they can to help me recover quickly. We hope that day by day I will get my state back and show the level that I can. Now it is far from my best.”

CEZ KARLOVARSKO (CZE) vs TRENTINO Itas (ITA) 1-3 (25-19, 18-25, 18-25, 20-25)

The Italian side of TRENTINO Itas are benefitting fully from playing at home, despite having to cope with missing their two setters. Dutchman Nimir Abdel-Aziz stepped up once more and led his team to a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20) victory. Former countryman Dick Kooy, who now has the Italian nationality, was chosen as the MVP. TRENTINO will face FRIEDRICHSHAFEN on Thursday for the top spot of Pool E.

The better start to the match was from the Czech team, they pressured TRENTINO immediately and built an eight-point lead. KARLOVARSKO spikers Patrik Indra and Lukasz Wiese couldn’t be stopped. TRENTINO made too many mistakes (8 over 3), resulting in a Czech set win.

From that moment on TRENTINO was in charge, they were never again behind. Setter pro tempore Abdel-Aziz had no trouble finding his attackers, Dick Kooy scored 16 of his spikes, middle blocker Srecko Lisinac added 7 spikes to his 5 blocks and 4 aces to reach 16 points. The three remaining sets fell prey to TRENTINO without too much of a battle: 25-18, 25-18, 25-20.

• Patrik Indra scored 16 times for KARLOVARSKO, Dick Kooy was the overall top scorer with 18.
• The battle between two Dutch setters was decided in favour of Nimir Abdel-Aziz. He scored 7 points for TRENTINO, while fellow national team player Wessel Keemink scored once.
• KARLOVARSKO are now at the bottom of Pool E, TRENTINO are in second place with one point less than FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Thursday’s opponent.

Daniel Pfeffer, Libero of CEZ KARLOVARSKO: “For sure we played better than we did yesterday, more relaxed and with more confidence. We improved in all the parts of the game. We defended a lot of balls and our block was good too. But against a team like this we have to stay consistent for the whole game. So here we have to improve to start winning games in this competition.” 

Zdenek Sklenác, assistant coach of CEZ KARLOVARSKO: “The game started really well for us. We served well, we played good in reception and defence and also our transition was good. During the game Trento started to play better and made good changes with young Michieletto. That meant a close fight for each point and finally Trento was the winner.”  

Marko Podrascanin, middle blocker of TRENTINO Itas: “It is a very important victory to us, after the tough game of yesterday and five sets against Novosibirsk. Before the game, we knew that it would be tough because we were a little tired, but tomorrow for us there is the final game against Friedrichshafen. I hope we will start better than we did today and yesterday, and we will win because we know the first place in our group is really important this year in Champions League.”

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CEV – European Volleyball
CVF – Czech Volleyball Federation
CEZ Karlovarsko