Tours VB
The start of the game was very tight (5:5) but Tours VB got up by the first technical time-out as they were much helped by their captain and opposite David Konecny (8:5). Copra Elior did not show their best game and Tours VB could comfortably take the opening set after setting the pace all the way (16:12, 23:18) to the final 25-19.
Copra Elior finally found back their best play in the second set (7:10) but their mistakes paved the way for a strong comeback by Tours VB that drew level at 13 all. The match continued with a neck-to-neck race (18 all) before a couple of good serves by Nuno Pinheiro brought Tours VB to the front (20:18). Tours VB nevertheless could not capitalize on two set balls and they eventually lost the set 27-29.
Tours VB opened the third set with a terrific 10:2 run and even though Piacenza captain Hristo Zlatanov tried to fire up the members of his team, the hosts never looked back and easily brought it home with a terrific 25-13.
Piacenza got back on track in the fourth set (5:7) whereas Tours VB was struggling to display their quality (10:14); the Italians made the difference with their block (19:23) and could eventually call for the tie-break (22-25).
Tours VB returned to perform strong there (5:1) and by exploiting many mistakes made by their opponents moved up 11:7 to complete a memorable volleyball night with a 15-10 tie-break win.
Austria’s rookie Posojilnica AICH/DOB could live up to the expectations of 1,600 fans in attendance at the Sportpark in Klagenfurt as they played a very good game and showed some good resistance while crossing their ways with Italy’s Volleyball heavyweight Lube Banca Marche Macerata. The guests from Italy won there in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, and 25-17) but it was nevertheless a night to remember as the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League stopped for the first time in Klagenfurt.
The start of the match was thrilling with a very close race; the hosts were playing with glowing hearts but Macerata could exploit every single error made by AICH/DOB. Though their margin was not that big the Italians could keep it up to the very end, pocketing the first set with the score of 25-20. Macerata started out very strong in the second set (4:0) and Posojilnica head coach Johan Verstappen tried to stop that storm by asking for a time-out. It did help but just a bit as Lube Banca Marche Macerata confidently set the pace of the game at the second technical time-out (16:9) and continued to play superb Volleyball to cruise to the final 25-19. As they were struggling in reception, the hosts of AICH/DOB trailed 4:8 in the early phases of the third set but they were able to fight their way back to even the score at 14 all. Macerata got a very slim margin as the second technical time-out was called (16:14) and this was instrumental to their straight victory in the end (25-17). All in all Posojilnica delivered a strong performance but still it was not enough to stop the run of their decorated opponents whose roster includes five medalists from the 2013 CEV VELUX EuroVolley.
For more similar articles click on CEV Champions League 2013/2014 M.
Statistics and video of this game coming very soon…
