The Italian Diatec Trentino booked their tickets to the Playoff 12 round of the 2014 DenizBank Champions League, whereas the German Berlin Recycling Volleys made another step toward the same goal. The two respective country champions outclassed Arkas Izmir and Energy Investments Lugano one more time after the convincing away victories before the month-long pause.
Released from the burden of high expectance, the Turkish champions Arkas had their chances in the Italian Alps. It would be far-fetched to state Trentino were wildly motivated at the beginning of the game, but the decent performance of their guests made them sweat, especially in the second set. Urpo Sivula was once again shaky and most of the danger came from the two outside attackers John Gordon Perrin and Tine Urnaut. The Slovenian took Sivula’s opposite position after the latter sat on the bench in the second part. The inability of Hoag‘s lads to tie up the score totally demoralized them and Trentino could do whatever they want on the field from then on.
“We have brought home 3 important points. They basically make sure we will advance to the Playoffs 12, for we will at least finish among the second ranked teams with the best score. As I said before the match, Arkas has become much stronger compared to the first match we played in Turkey. Nevertheless, we could win thanks to our good performance in block and defense and managing difficult actions and situations. I am satisfied, as I saw the team I expected to see, especially in the hardest sections of the match”, stated local coach Roberto Serniotti.
Diatec Trentino – Arkas Izmir 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-15)
Diatec Trentino: Suxho 2, Ferreira 15, Birarelli 6, Sokolov 17, Lanza 5, Sole 10, Colaci – libero, Szabo 1, Burgsthaler
Arkas Izmir: Ramazanoglu, Perrin 11, Kamnik 5, Sivula 5, Urnaut 11, Koc, Yesilbudak – libero, Gokgoz 5, Gulmezoglu, Capkinoglu 5
The Bundesliga titleholders surely did not start defending their domestic title in the brightest possible way, but enjoy rather friendly winds in Europe. The Swiss Lugano was beaten in the packed Max-Schmeling-Halle and thus the Berlin side assured themselves of at least a second position in Pool D. Lugano could only cope up with their German hosts in the opening set which eventually went in favour of the crowd’s favourites. The big difference that night came at the net where Berlin dominated by eleven stuff blocks to only three for the visitors. The Slovak international Tomas Kmet scored seven of them and together with Lugano’s opposite Felipe Airton Bandero was the game’s highest scorer.
Berlin Recycling Volleys – Energy Investments Lugano 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-18)
Berlin Recycling Volleys: Shoji 3, Kromm 9, Kmet 14, Carroll 7, Touzinsky 9, Lisinac 9, Krystof – libero
Energy Investments Lugano: Garnica 1, Roberts 4, Lehtonen 7, Bandero 14, Bruschweiler 9, Simac 4, Rosic – libero, Mariano 4, Rizo Gonzalez
Pictures: CEV
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