Trentino
Trentino hosted Serie A1 rivals after confident 3-0 win in the first leg to dominate in the rematch as well. The crucial thing for Angelo Lorenzetti’s side was to take two sets and secure semifinal spot, which they did in the first two sets. Since it was all over, both coaches sent backups on the floor, but even with this constellation of power, Trentino prevailed to keep home court invincibility this season (18 wins in all competitions) and take part in European Cup semis for the third consecutive year (CEV Champions League semifinalists in 2015 and 2016). It rarely happens that one coach gives a chance to all registered players in one game. This is exactly what Trentino’s expert Lorenzetti did against Piacenza. All 14 players took their place on the floor at some point which caused that neither had double digits. As for Piacenza, French Trévor Clévenot stood out with 19 points.
Trentino will face Turkish Fenerbahçe İstanbul in semis (March 28 and April 2), who proved to be better than French side GFC Ajaccio with 3-0 and 3-1 wins. In the second leg, Metin Toy pushed ’Fener’ with 15 points. Macedonian Jovica Simovski topped Ajaccio with 16.
United Volleys Rheinmain from Germany wento to Belgium on a rematch with Lindemans Aalst having comfortable 3-0 win but they experienced a scare already in the first set. Still, Bundesliga team recoverd to take next two sets and book semifinal ticket. Even 21 blocks overall by Lindemans (Reinis Pekmanis 18 points) did not help them eliminate United Volleys where Christian Dünnes had 23 points. German club will play French Tours in the semifinals of the tournament.
Busto
In Women’s quarter-final matches of the CEV Cup, everything went according to expectations for the favorites. Russian Dinamo Kazan (Dariya Isaeva 13 points) achieved another straight-set win over Serbian Vizura Belgrade to schedule semifinal clash with winners of Budowlani Łódź – Galatasaray İstanbul (1-3 in 1st leg).
German side Allianz MTV Stuttgart missed their chance against Champions League winners Pomì Casalmaggiore in first match at home court (lost 3-2) and easily succumbed in Italy 3-0. Lucia Bosetti and Anstasia Guerra topped Casalmaggiore’s scorers with 11 points each.
Since Unet Yamamay Busto Arsizio also advanced to the semis after downing Hungarian Linamar-Békéscsabai RSE (3-1, 3-0 with 14 points from Dominican Brayelin Martínez) we will watch Italian derby in penultimate round of the tournament.
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