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Club Volleyball News
Some 1,500 fans came together to support hosts ŁKS Commercecon ŁÓDŹ for their home match against Swietelsky BÉKÉSCSABA of Hungary. The local supporters had prepared a special flag displaying the national colours of Poland and Hungary – and at the end of the match they even thanked the visiting team in their own language. The Polish team is contesting the CEV Cup this season after making three straight appearances in the elite CEV Champions League – and this match coincided with the European Cups debut for youngsters such as Julita Piasecka, Weronika Sobiczewska and Angelika Gajer. Brazilians Pietra Jukoski and Olympic silver medallist Roberta Ratzke played their first-ever European Cup match as well.
The two teams played at the same level when it comes to their service and block, but the home side definitely performed better in reception and attack. Veronica Jones-Perry eventually scored 22 points for the Polish team – with a 51% success rate in attack. The visitors surprised the home favourites in the third set but ŁKS Commercecon ŁÓDŹ eventually claimed a 3-1 victory (25-23, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19). Martyna Grajber and Marta Drpa received the awards for the MVPs of the match for the home and visiting side, respectively.
The Polish fans deserved a warm welcome to the visiting team from Hungary with a specially designed flag displaying the colour of both nations.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, hosts ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo BRČKO lost their home match with VK UP OLOMOUC 1-3 (23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 21-25). The Bosnian opposite of the Czech team, Elena Babić, was the best player of the match.
Ana Gajić, middle blocker of ZOK Bimal-Jedinstvo: “We are very disappointed with this loss since we stood a real chance against the Czech team. However, they had a little more luck and we will now try to make amends for this loss in Olomouc.”
Elena Babić“It was a difficult match and quite an emotional one for me as I was playing against my former team. I am very happy with the 3-1 victory and I hope that we can repeat the same result at home in Olomouc. Both teams put up a good fight and I think it was an interesting match for people to watch.”
Even though they played without their starting setter Klara Perić, Mladost ZAGREB recorded a comprehensive 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-17, 25-12) over UOK BANJALUKA Volley. Mladost had to cancel a match scheduled for the Croatian national league this past weekend as many of their players had caught a cold and this affected their preparations for the CEV Cup fixture as well. The only 18-year-old setter Zorana Brčić rose to the occasion and helped her side secure a home win.
Mika Grbavica, player of Mladost and top scorer with 24 points: “I am very proud of my team and I think we won this match fair and square. I would like to stress that we played with a very young team and one of the youngest members of the team played tonight despite dealing with an injury. I expect that we can perform even better next Wednesday.”
Milica Lučić, player of UOK BANJALUKA Volley: “It was definitely an easy match for Team Mladost. We came here with two injuries and therefore it was difficult for us to play and defeat this team. We hope to have better chances next Wednesday and to win that game.”
Volero LE CANNET claimed a 3-2 away victory over Minchanka MINSK as the French side won the first two sets before the hosts fought back to level the match. The tiebreak that followed was a real battle for every point, where Volero eventually emerged victorious at 15-10.
Lorenzo Micelli“We could have won 3-0 because we played extremely well for the first two sets – but after that we stopped putting pressure on them, lost the third and fourth sets, but we regrouped for the tiebreak. We are a new team and I am satisfied with what I see in our daily training. The next match with Minchanka will decide everything. This was just a first step to understand and know the opponent a little better – the real fight will be in France.”
Stanislav Salikov, head coach of Minchanka: “I am not satisfied with the result even though we played a good match. I hope we can take our revenge in France. Today’s match was close but we made too many mistakes in the fifth set. We will continue to work hard and I look forward to the return match.”
In the other match of the night, AJM FC PORTO claimed a sensational 3-0 home victory (25-21, 25-18, 25-17) over Olympiacos PIRAEUS of Greece.