Volleyball
Action-packed night in #CEVCupM with no major surprises
Archive
Article Tue, Dec 15 2020
Luxembourg, December 15, 2020. Action resumed on Tuesday in the men’s CEV Cup with as many as three ‘bubbles’ getting underway in Montpellier, Pazardzhik and Las Palmas as 16 teams fight for a spot in the semis of Europe’s second-tier competition. On Wednesday, Zenit SAINT PETERSBURG will play VK Dukla LIBEREC in Pazardzhik while on Thursday hosts MONTPELLIER Castelnau UC take on OK Nis NIS on home soil. Over to Las Palmas, Greenyard MAASEIK of Belgium made it to the quarterfinals with a terrific performance to play hosts CV Guaguas for a spot among the top four of the competition.
Tournament favourites Zenit SAINT PETERSBURG of Russia celebrated a 3-1 victory over hosts Hebar PAZARDZHIK (24-26, 26-24, 25-14, 25-11) to make sure they would continue their journey in the quarterfinals. The Bulgarians caught a very promising start and put up a real fight for two full sets, but the Russian heavyweight eventually showed their quality and ended the Bulgarian team’s participation in the CEV Cup. Hebar had already made history by progressing to the 8th Finals of a European competition for the first time in their history.
The next opponent for Zenit will be VK Dukla LIBEREC of the Czech Republic. The Czechs delivered a very strong performance, despite reaching Pazardzhik after a long and exhausting journey, to beat Stroitel MINSK of Belarus in three sets (25-23, 30-28, 25-21), much to the credit of the 20 points scored by their star player Jan Stokr, a former Champions League winner and Club World Champion with Italy’s TRENTINO Volley. Stokr scored 17 spikes and 3 aces to propel the Czechs to the quarterfinal fixture with Zenit.
Over to another ‘bubble’ in Las Palmas, Greenyard MAASEIK needed three sets only to edge past SK ANKARA and make it to the quarterfinals. The impressive blocks of the Belgian team and some errors on the Turkish side of the net made the difference in the opening set (25-18). However, SK ANKARA fought hard to turn the tide but their receivers started to struggle to deal with the much pressure put by Greenyard MAASEIK, and the Belgians eventually doubled their lead in the match (25-21). The third set was a close fight as well, but again Greenyard MAASEIK made the difference and scored the points when it mattered the most – with Lou Kindt and Mitchell Stahl very much helping to seal a 3-0 victory at 25-21.
Mitchell Stahl, who registered a perfect 100% in attack, four blocks and two aces: “It is nice to perform like this against a team of this caliber and to move to the next round with this type of victory. The practice sessions went well the last couple of weeks and we were able to show that same level on court today. I do not know yet who our next opponent will be, the hosts from Las Palmas or Galatasaray, but we will see on game day what we can do against them.”
Pieter Verhees, middle blocker of MAASEIK: “This is for sure a good win. We did a good job. Just call it a complete team performance. We started off very well and put a lot of pressure on SK ANKARA. Only in the third set, we had a couple of weaker moments, but we could overcome them.”
Greenyard’s next opponent will be hosts CV Guaguas LAS PALMAS who were able to spring quite a surprise through their 3-1 victory (25-23, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18) over Galatasaray HDI ISTANBUL of Turkey. The Spaniards caused the only real surprise of the 8th Finals this far. Their powerful spikes and strong defence set the tone for what was about to come already in a closely fought first set (25-23). The visitors claimed an early lead in the second set but the hosts fought back and showed mental strength to secure a close 27-25 set win. The two teams exchanged the lead back and forth in the third set, with Galatasaray’s resilience making the difference in the end (25-21). The Turkish team continued from where they had left off in the fourth set but Guaguas responded by rising to the occasion and scoring several key points that paved their way towards reaching the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup.
In Montpellier, teams from Serbia performed in contrasting fashion. OK Nis NIS celebrated a 3-1 victory (22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-21) over IBB Polonia LONDON of England to stay in contention for a spot in the semis with the only 18-year-old Iranian opposite Bardia Saadat out-scoring veteran Marcus Nilsson on a personal tally of 24 points (vs. 20 for the Swede). “We started the game very well, with a lot of energy,” Nilsson said after the loss. “However, we lost the rhythm as we went along. They have a very good team. We are disappointed with the result.”
“We are happy. The second set was the turning point of this match. We started well and made fewer mistakes afterwards,” commented Alexsandro Garcia Vicente of OK Nis NIS.
Later in the evening, hosts MONTPELLIER Castelnau UC needed 69 minutes only to rout the second Serbian team competing in this ‘bubble’, Mladi Radnik POZAREVAC 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-20). “It was a top performance, and a victory is always fun. I am especially happy with the focus we showed throughout the match after taking the first two sets so easily,” commented the star middle blocker of MONTPELLIER Castelnau UC, Nicolas Le Goff.
“We came across a team from Montpellier that was definitely stronger than us. We are still quite happy with our performance in the third set. I wish good luck to the team of Montpellier in the next round!” commented the head coach of Mladi Radnik POZAREVAC, Ivica Jevtic.
Click here for further information.
Tournament favourites Zenit SAINT PETERSBURG of Russia celebrated a 3-1 victory over hosts Hebar PAZARDZHIK (24-26, 26-24, 25-14, 25-11) to make sure they would continue their journey in the quarterfinals. The Bulgarians caught a very promising start and put up a real fight for two full sets, but the Russian heavyweight eventually showed their quality and ended the Bulgarian team’s participation in the CEV Cup. Hebar had already made history by progressing to the 8th Finals of a European competition for the first time in their history.
The next opponent for Zenit will be VK Dukla LIBEREC of the Czech Republic. The Czechs delivered a very strong performance, despite reaching Pazardzhik after a long and exhausting journey, to beat Stroitel MINSK of Belarus in three sets (25-23, 30-28, 25-21), much to the credit of the 20 points scored by their star player Jan Stokr, a former Champions League winner and Club World Champion with Italy’s TRENTINO Volley. Stokr scored 17 spikes and 3 aces to propel the Czechs to the quarterfinal fixture with Zenit.
Over to another ‘bubble’ in Las Palmas, Greenyard MAASEIK needed three sets only to edge past SK ANKARA and make it to the quarterfinals. The impressive blocks of the Belgian team and some errors on the Turkish side of the net made the difference in the opening set (25-18). However, SK ANKARA fought hard to turn the tide but their receivers started to struggle to deal with the much pressure put by Greenyard MAASEIK, and the Belgians eventually doubled their lead in the match (25-21). The third set was a close fight as well, but again Greenyard MAASEIK made the difference and scored the points when it mattered the most – with Lou Kindt and Mitchell Stahl very much helping to seal a 3-0 victory at 25-21.
Mitchell Stahl, who registered a perfect 100% in attack, four blocks and two aces: “It is nice to perform like this against a team of this caliber and to move to the next round with this type of victory. The practice sessions went well the last couple of weeks and we were able to show that same level on court today. I do not know yet who our next opponent will be, the hosts from Las Palmas or Galatasaray, but we will see on game day what we can do against them.”
Pieter Verhees, middle blocker of MAASEIK: “This is for sure a good win. We did a good job. Just call it a complete team performance. We started off very well and put a lot of pressure on SK ANKARA. Only in the third set, we had a couple of weaker moments, but we could overcome them.”
Greenyard’s next opponent will be hosts CV Guaguas LAS PALMAS who were able to spring quite a surprise through their 3-1 victory (25-23, 27-25, 21-25, 25-18) over Galatasaray HDI ISTANBUL of Turkey. The Spaniards caused the only real surprise of the 8th Finals this far. Their powerful spikes and strong defence set the tone for what was about to come already in a closely fought first set (25-23). The visitors claimed an early lead in the second set but the hosts fought back and showed mental strength to secure a close 27-25 set win. The two teams exchanged the lead back and forth in the third set, with Galatasaray’s resilience making the difference in the end (25-21). The Turkish team continued from where they had left off in the fourth set but Guaguas responded by rising to the occasion and scoring several key points that paved their way towards reaching the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup.
In Montpellier, teams from Serbia performed in contrasting fashion. OK Nis NIS celebrated a 3-1 victory (22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-21) over IBB Polonia LONDON of England to stay in contention for a spot in the semis with the only 18-year-old Iranian opposite Bardia Saadat out-scoring veteran Marcus Nilsson on a personal tally of 24 points (vs. 20 for the Swede). “We started the game very well, with a lot of energy,” Nilsson said after the loss. “However, we lost the rhythm as we went along. They have a very good team. We are disappointed with the result.”
“We are happy. The second set was the turning point of this match. We started well and made fewer mistakes afterwards,” commented Alexsandro Garcia Vicente of OK Nis NIS.
Later in the evening, hosts MONTPELLIER Castelnau UC needed 69 minutes only to rout the second Serbian team competing in this ‘bubble’, Mladi Radnik POZAREVAC 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-20). “It was a top performance, and a victory is always fun. I am especially happy with the focus we showed throughout the match after taking the first two sets so easily,” commented the star middle blocker of MONTPELLIER Castelnau UC, Nicolas Le Goff.
“We came across a team from Montpellier that was definitely stronger than us. We are still quite happy with our performance in the third set. I wish good luck to the team of Montpellier in the next round!” commented the head coach of Mladi Radnik POZAREVAC, Ivica Jevtic.
Click here for further information.