Unexpected Defeats For Piacenza and BR Volleys in Five Sets

Last week, we learned all the quarterfinalists of #CLVolleyM, and at the weekend, they took the court against relatively weaker opponents in their national leagues. While the two Italian squads and both Turkish clubs completed this round without letting any surprises happen, this was not the case for Piacenza and BR Volleys.

One of three Italian CEV Champions League Volley quarterfinalists, Gas Sales Daiko Piacenza, faced Vero Volley Monza in the 18th round of the Italian SuperLega. Even though Piacenza did not begin the match as they wished and fell 2-1 behind in sets, they extended the match to the determining five set with a superior game in the fourth. However, Monza side clearly started the fifth with a score of 5-0, and by continuing this performance, they won the clash by 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11).

With a total of 22 points, including three aces and three blocks, Canadian outside hitter Eric Loeppky was selected as the MVP of the game, followed by Stephen Maar (19) and Arthur Szwarc (13) on the winning side. Italian opposite Yuri Romano’s 22-point performance was not enough for Piacenza to win.

Since the vice-leader Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia also lost their clash against Verona, the gap between the second and third teams didn’t change in Italy's overall standings. With a confident win, Itas Trentino maintained leading the charts.

Similar to Piacenza, another five-set failure was received by Berlin Recycling Volleys in Germany: They met ASV Dachau in the 18th leg of the German 1. Bundesliga. Even though BR Volleys started the match as the clear pre-favorites, they had so many ups and downs throughout the match, and the score was tied to 2-2 after the fourth set. Dachau then pushed their limits and left the court with a victory (3-2: 21-25, 25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 15-13).

German promising talent Simon Gallas led his team to victory with 23 points, which made him the Most Valuable Player. Daniel Malescha was the most productive player on the losing side with 19.

The result didn’t affect the standings in Germany, and BR Volleys remained as the leaders in the regular season, but now the vice leaders Giesen came closer, and the difference fell to only a single victory.

The Turkish quarterfinalists, Halkbank Ankara and Ziraat Bankkart, as well as the Polish club Jastrzebski Wegiel, had no difficulties overcoming their challenges and maintained their top positions.