TOURS VB wanted to start fresh on their home court, after a straight sets loss in Warsaw last week, but SIR Sicoma Monini PERUGIA was not the easiest opponent. Hosts showed their spirit in the first set, but in a tight end Italians found more power.

French champions started with confidence, despite the absence of the team captain Nathan Wounembaina. They impressively led 18-13, but then Atanasijevic closed the gap. After an exciting tight end, Italians stayed more focused and finished at 32-30. In the first part Wilfredo Leon scored 11 points, but he has a great support from Oleh Plotnyskyi. The young Ukrainian, thanks to his brilliant performance was chosen the MVP with 19 points on his account. Coach Hubert Henno tried some substitutions during the game, but even these could not help in the last two sets. On the TOURS’s side of the net the best scorer was Konstantin Cupkovic with 16 points.

Hubert Henno, head coach of TOURS VB: "Against this kind of team you have to play hard all the time and not give up with the opportunities. The learning from the high level is done. It takes a lot of effort to move from the good team to the very good team."

Wilfredo Leon, outside hitter of SIR Sicoma Monini PERUGIA: "The first set was difficult for us, we had difficulties to score, but we were focused on the game and to come back to our game again. Tours was pretty close to us in this first set. They were pushing us."