Noliko MAASEIK
However, to make sure they will finish the League Round on top of the group the Belgians need to take two more points from the last couple of legs, with the first opportunity to achieve this goal coming up this Tuesday as they play host to Bulgaria’s rookie Marek Union-Ivkoni DUPNITSA at “Lotto Dôme”.
“Even though we know that we just need two points to make sure we finish first in our group, we still want to achieve our primary goal, which is to claim all our home matches in this competition” says Noliko head coach Brecht Van Kerckhove. “We played really well in Bulgaria and will try to do the same on Tuesday here in Maaseik. DUPNITSA played really well in their matches with CAI TERUEL, so we can’t underestimate this young side” he adds.
“We want to show some good Volleyball as we play the strongest team in our group” stresses Bulgarian mentor Nayden Naydenov. “The main goal in this European campaign is to provide our young players with the opportunity to grow and gain valuable experience from every match. We are trying to finish third in the group and hence a win could help us pretty much fulfill this goal. Maaseik brings back some nice memories from this past summer as we had a training camp here with Bulgaria’s national team as we were finalizing our preparations for the London Olympics”.
DUPNITSA recently claimed its last match in Bulgaria’s national league by edging Arda KARDZHALI in straight sets (25-19, 25-22, and 25-21) while Noliko suffered its second defeat in the domestic arena losing to Schelde-Natie Precura ANTWERP 1:3 (25-20, 23-25, 18-25, and 14-25).
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