Kuzbass Kemerovo advanced to 2020 men's CEV Champions League semifinals  shutting out Zaksa in a fourth-set match-up in empty Azoty Hall Kedzierzyn

 he Russian squad showed what it is famous for  and after the 2-3 defeat  in the first-leg match  bounced back in Poland and emphatically capitalized on the opportunity to enter  CEV CL semis for the first time in the club’s history.

The sheer roller coaster battle started  in the  second part that showed what Russian team is famous for. The visitors from Russia having a clear plan to level the score started to commit even less unforced mistakes what resulted in  much better performance. Although Zaksa initially seemed to control then proceedings on the court (7-6) after a devastating ace by middle blocker  David Smith it was Kuzbass who in spite of few spoiled attacks and after some mistakes by Zaksa ( net touch by Kamil Semeniuk) managed to increasingly enlarge the gap 14-10, 16-12 and we had a tough neck and neck rivalry to the moment of levelling the score (18-18). In the last gasp of the second set opposite Victor Poletayev  hammered out the victory for rookies from Russia (25-23).

In the third Kuzbass with each of the ball seemed to be more focused and committed less and less mistakes  playing plain but effective volleyball in rather quiet Azoty Hall 2-0, 2-4,  and finally 8-8 what woke up some hopes for the Nicola Grbic pupils to regain initiative and snatch that part of the game. Two unforced mistakes by Zaksa and another spike by fenomenal this evening Poletayev let visitors jump ahead to 12-8, and after a spoilt attack by outside spiker Arpad Baroti to 15-9. Nicola Grbic let to show up some substitutes on the court but all to no avail and Russian national champions  continued its offence clearly devastating reception lines of Zaksa (22:14) and convincingly secured the victory  in the  third (25-18).  

Zaksa needed  just a straightforward win with any score at home  to make it  to  the semifinals  but it proved too  much for them  and they had to recognize the superiority of visitors from Russia who  in quite emphatic manner  edged polish team from CEV CL semis  and themselves entered  for the first time the group of four best teams in Europe.   Russian side   left no doubt over their superiority in this match-up and stayed well in control of the scoreboard throughout  almost the whole encounter except for the opening set. 

Gheorghe Cretu: We are happy because it is for us a historical promotion to the best four in Europe. I trained in Poland and I know   ZAKSA,s class so both meetings were according to my opinion very even. Today we played hard in the attack and the rival made more mistakes what gave us a well-deserved win.

Paweł Zatorski: We were counting on promotion but the Russians showed that they are a top-notch  team. We played a little weaker in defense. It is a pity that we lacked our additional player who are our fans.