Dinamo-Crvena Zvezda
With this result the side from Russia’s capital city has improved its record to 3 wins and 1 defeat so far in the competition, thereby asserting its intention to fight with Lokomotiv BAKU for first place in the group.
Dinamo caught a very good start finding the right answer to all tactics worked out by the home side and setting the pace of the game at both mandatory stops (8:3, 16:6). Dinamo went up 19:9 and 21:12 before the home side fought its way back with good play showed by setter Julia Milovits from the serving line. Crvena Zvezda could score six points in a row and after a dramatic final rush the local heroines pocketed the opening set with the score of 26-24.
Dinamo set the pace of the game all the way through in set 2 (12:7, 18:12, 23:16) and this time was not caught by surprise going for the provisional 1:1 (25-18).
Natasa Osmokrovic and the other stars included in the roster of Dinamo showed their class in set 3 (8:6, 13:7) and with Crvena Zvezda struggling to find a way to stop that storm, the Russian guests stretched their lead (16:10) and could quickly finish it off with a comfortable and clear 25-16.
Things did not change in the fourth set where Dinamo went up 8:5 and 16:10 to wrap it up with a 25-20 that contributed their third win in the prelims of this year’s Champions League.
Natalia Obmochaeva (Goncharova) was the best scorer of the game with 19 points supported by Maryna Marchenko with 17, while Nikolina Lukic and Ana Bjelica paced Crvena Zvezda with 14 and 13 respectively.
“I think everyone is satisfied tonight, Crvena Zvezda claimed one set and we got three points as we wanted” said Dinamo head coach Svetlana Ilic. “There are no excuses for the way we lost the first set but we can’t always live up to the high expectations people have. It is hard to play as you join the match being the clear-cut favorite for the win”.
“We could have played better than we did but for us it is already a success to take a set from such a world-class opponent like Dinamo. I hope that we will play the next matches in the group as good as we did tonight in the first set” concluded local top scorer Nikolina Lukic.
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