Given the circumstances, Italy’s Cucine Lube Civitanova made a feat by beating Poland’s Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn-Koźle (ZAKSA) in the 3rd round of the 2022 CEV Champions League – Pool C.
On the court of the European champions ZAKSA in Gliwice, in front of 6,000 opponents’ supporters, Lube overturned the predictions and debuted in the new calendar year with a 3-2 victory in the 3rd round of the CEV Champions League Volley 2022 | Men – Pool C. Thus, Gianlorenzo Blengini’s guys, even though deprived of the help from Juantorena and Kovář, and with Zaytsev as a backup, partially redeemed for the defeat from ZAKSA in the Golden Set of the quarter-finals in 2021. As a result, Lube maintained the leadership of the group, reaching 8 points (3-0), right in front of ZAKSA (7 points; 2-1), whose 14-game run counting all competitions came to an end. Cuban Robertlandy Simón top-scored the winning side with 19 points (4 blocks) through 71% attack (15/21).
Italy’s Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia swept Turkey’s Fenerbahçe HDI İstanbul in Pool E, but the final outcome doesn’t show the fight that took place in each of the 3 sets. The ‘Block Devils’ took two sets with a 2-point difference, being forced to turn the course of the opening set around.
CEV Champions League Volley 2022 | Men – group stage (today’s matches):
