Spanish, Hungarian rookies progress to #CEVCupW 8th Finals
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Spain’s CV Kiele SOCUELLAMOS have progressed to the 8th Finals of the women’s CEV Cup 2023 in what is their first appearance in international competition in history. After storming to a comprehensive 3-0 victory last week on home soil, the Spaniards could claim the two sets they needed to make it to the next stage in their re-match with Belgium’s VC OUDEGEM at the local sports hall Sint-Gillis in Dendermonde.
VC OUDEGEM played with much courage and could keep the pace of their rivals up to the 15-point mark in the opening set. However, this is where the players of CV Kiele changed gear and broke away to claim a compelling 25-18 set win. VC OUDEGEM put up even more of a fight in the second set, but they eventually lost it 23-25 following two consecutive mistakes. This is where the Spaniards had already cashed their ticket to the next round to play there the reigning Belgian national champions, VDK GENT Dames. Despite there being not much at stake anymore, VC OUDEGEM responded well to the early setback and deserved the loud support of the audience – taking the match to a tiebreak where, however, they again had too many flaws and ended up losing 7-15.
Elsewhere, another team making their debut in the CEV European Cups, Hungary’s Szent Benedek BALATONFÜRED, have advanced to the 8th Finals as well. They have done so courtesy of two 3-1 victories in their matches with Croatia’s Marina KAŠTELA. The second fixture contested in Kaštel Stari, Croatia, earlier this week started with the hosts claiming the first set (25-23) to keep alive their hopes of staying in the competition. However, after that, Szent Benedek won the subsequent three sets (25-23, 25-22, 25-13) to secure another 3-1 victory in 99 minutes and advance to the next round where they are due to play Dukla LIBEREC of the Czech Republic.
Kralovo Pole BRNO of the Czech Republic will continue their European journey as well. On Wednesday, they faced Greek league leaders AC PAOK THESSALONIKI on home ground and with the support of a raucous crowd, they recorded a 3-1 victory to make up for their 2-3 loss at the hands of the same rivals last week in Greece. The fans especially enjoyed the end of the fourth set, where the two teams exchanged the lead back and forth – with Kralovo Pole failing to cash match balls and THESSALONIKI to convert set points to go for a tiebreak. In the end, the players from Brno offered themselves an early Christmas present following a 34-32 set win to secure the right to challenge another Greek team, Olympiacos PIRAEUS, in the 8th Finals. Simona Nikolova from Kralovo Pole recorded an impressive personal tally of 35 points.
Erik Nezhoda“I am very happy for today’s win, and I congratulate the girls. It was exciting until the last moment, on the other hand, we really believed in winning and taking three points today. The finale was a hugely above-standard performance on our part, and the girls managed it extremely well.”
Head coach of Kralovo Pole BRNO
Marco Fenoglio“Today’s match had an incredible charge, especially the end of the fourth set was extremely dramatic. Both teams fought until the last moment, unfortunately we had problems in the third set. And in the end, someone had to win, unfortunately it was not us today.”
Head coach of AC PAOK THESSALONIKI
Budowlani LODZ of Poland are through to the 8th Finals as well – following a 3-2 away victory to go with a 3-0 home win in their matches with Romania’s C.S.O. VOLUNTARI 2005. In the re-match, the hosts from Romania were able to stay in contention by taking the first and second sets (28-26, 25-19) – even though one of their best-performing players injured herself in the second set and could not return to the court for the rest of the evening. C.S.O. VOLUNTARI 2005 managed to overcome this setback and played very competitively in the third set too – however, a few mistakes made it swing in favour of the visitors from Poland. The Romanians could not quite keep with the pressure in the fourth set – they had to win it if they were to go for a Golden Set – and Budowlani made it 2-2 to seal their spot in the next round. There was not much at stake anymore in the tiebreak – where Budowlani had the upper hand at 15-11.
Maciej Biernat“We expected a tough game, especially since we know that the Romanians play very well at home. We knew this was going to be a close match, and the score is just a confirmation of that. The most difficult thing right now is to be playing so many matches in a short period of time. We worked with our block and defence and showed patience – that is how we managed to come back. We are happy with the victory and we can now focus on the next round.”
Head coach of Budowlani LODZ
Milan Ljubicic, head coach of C.S.O. VOLUNTARI 2005: “Certainly, this was not an easy match or easy situation for us. It was a tough match on us especially knowing the score from the previous game and the need for us to come from behind. I have mixed feelings because I know we did have a chance in this match, but I am still happy with the way we performed most of the time. We had some bad luck as one of our best players suffered an injury and it was difficult to recover from that setback. The team responded well, and we did win the second set – but some small mistakes in key moments made the difference and we lost control of the match. I am proud of the way we fought as this was our first European experience and I hope that the next one will be even better for us.”