Calcit KAMNIK put up good fight but end up losing to Olympiacos
News
On Tuesday night, Calcit Volley KAMNIK lost their first match of the 16th Finals of the women’s CEV Cup against Olympiacos PIRAEUS 1-3 (18-25, 25-20, 27-29, 20-25). The return match will take place next Tuesday, December 20, at 19:00, in Piraeus.
After their relegation from the CEV Champions League, Slovenia's national champions Calcit Volley KAMNIK continue their European journey in the CEV Cup. But the draw was not favourable for them in this competition either, as their opponent in the 16th Finals is Olympiacos PIRAEUS, who won Greece’s only European trophy, the 2018 Challenge Cup, and enjoys a streak of eight consecutive Greek national championship titles. This season, the Greeks are led by experienced Italian coach Lorenzo Micelli, who was at the helm of the Bulgarian national team this year, but has also coached Le Cannet of France, Rzeszow and Trefl Sopot of Poland, Eczacibasi of Turkey, Modena, Foppapedretti Bergamo, and Padova, among others, in his home country.
After an even start of the opening set, the home players, after tying the match on the tenth point when Neja Cižman was on serve, dropped their serve in the next rallies, which the more experienced Greek players quickly took advantage of. A point by American Elaine Winters gave the visitors a three-point lead (10-13), and an ace by Milica Kubura made it 11-16. The Kamnik players were in even more trouble after another ace, this time by Cuban Wilma Salas Rosell (12-19). Although the hosts fought back to a three-point gap (18-21) with Maša Pucelj's winning attack, this was pretty much everything they could do in this set.
But in the second set, Gregor Rozman's team just shook off the nervousness, improved their reception, were more dangerous on their serve and after an ace by Mila Đorđević, they broke away by four points (16-12). They were even closer to tying the set after another ace, this time by Neja Čižman (20-14), which was enough for a calm ending, in which Đorđević secured the first of five set points, and the second one was cashed by Pucelj.
In a closely fought third set, it was again the home favourites who came up with a bigger advantage, and it was Anđelka Radišković who, along with Čižman, was the most prolific, as she scored two consecutive points to give her team a four-point advantage (14-10). The Greek team closed the gap to one point (15-14) after a successful attack by Salas Rosell. In a tense money time, in which the Greek team tied the score at 23-all, even though Kamnik was still leading 23-21, Olympiacos took a 2-1 lead, taking advantage of their first set point. Before that, Calcit KAMNIK had missed four.
After losing the third set, Calcit KAMNIK started the fourth set poorly, with the Greeks leading 12-7 after a Winters point. However, the Kamnik players did not give up and after a series of good serves by Radišković and a block by Đorđević, they took the lead 15-14. Before entering the final stage of the set, they edged ahead by three points (19-16) with an ace from Đorđević, but Winters' serves were fatal for them. Calcit KAMNIK were still leading 20-19, but then they did not score any more points. Kubura ended the match in favour of Olympiacos.
Ana Marija Vovk"I think it was a good game, but in the end, we beat ourselves. We made mistakes on serve like we have not done in a long time. If we had just served well, we would have had the points that we ran out of in the end. We played our block defence as we agreed, but there were too many mistakes in the rest of the game. But we did not get intimidated by our opponents and tonight we saw that they are beatable. If we correct our mistakes, if we raise our heads, we can get a good result in Greece.”
Player of Calcit KAMNIK