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With a 3-2 win over pool winner Jastrzebski Wegiel, Greenyard MAASEIK ended its Champions League campaign with a bang. Even though the Belgian champions posted their best pool result in seven years, their three tiebreak victories and an unbeaten record at home didn’t reach for a ticket to the quarterfinals.

Despite having captain Jelte MAAN sidelined by a shoulder injury, Greenyard MAASEIK put their Polish guests under pressure in the first set, Rasmus NIELSEN created the first gap at 20-15. Christian FROMM and Yurii GLADYR clawed back with an ace a piece, but the locals secured the first partial win at the third set point:  25-23.   

With substitutes Piotr HAIN, Michal SZALACHA and Dominik DEPOWSKI Jastrzebski turned the tide in set 2, finishing strongly from 18-19 to 20-25.

Graham VIGRASS and Jakob BUCKI extended the Polish domination in set three, giving their team a comfortable six point win: 19-25.

German power spiker Fromm (22 pts.) controlled the first part of set four (7-10), but with two 4-points service runs, Jonas KVALEN and Yurii SEMENIUK brought a tiebreak within reach at 19-15. Andri AGANITS closed it out at 25-22.  

The tiebreak showed Renee TEPPAN’s splendid entry for Greenyard. The Estonian, newly recruited as medical joker, pushed his teammates to a stunning 15-8 triumph.

Joel BANKS, coach of Maaseik: “I’m standing here with mixed emotions. I’m very proud of my players: we conquered three victories at home and an extra win on the road in a very strong group with Kazan and Jastrzebski Wegiel and yet we do not qualify for the quarter finals. That’s a tough conclusion. Yet, I’m happy for another reason: if you can win three tiebreaks in Champions League, you must be mentally very strong.”

Jonas KVALEN, player of MAASEIK: “This was a very hard fight, because Jastrzebski was playing very well. But we have a very strong crowd in Maaseik and once again we showed a big fighting spirit. So I’m very happy with this win.”