ACH VOLLEY BLED – LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA 3-2 (15-25, 25-22, 20-25, 34-32, 18-16) –
ACH VOLLEY BLED: Petkovic, Gato Moya 1, Lewis (L), Flajs 5, Pajenk 9, Sket 18, Vincic 7, Venno 1, Kamnik 14, Jakopin 19. DNP Vidic, Pokersnik. Coach. Hoag. LUBE BANCA MARCHE
MACERATA: Cisolla 16, Paparoni, Corsano (L), Raymaekers 10, Omrcen 21, Bartoletti, Vermiglio 2, Monopoli, Podrascanin 8, Martino 28. DNP Swiderski, Smerilli. Coach. De Giorgi Ferdinando.
Six match points wasted in the fourth set, and then the defeat at the tie-break. Macerata came back home from Ljubljana, Slovenia, with the glass half empty. Bled’s win at the fifth set means there is still everything to play for in the return leg. Whichever goes through will meet the winners of Innsbruck versus Friedrichshafen. The Germans had the better in the first leg 3-1 over the Austrians. Next Wednesday, Macerata will need to win with a two-set margin in order to avoid the dangerous set quotient factor.
While coach Hoag surprised everybody leaving Gato and Petkovic on the Bench for Bled, Macerata started off with ups and downs. It made a great number of mistakes on the serve (28), which made things a lot easier for the Slovenians. The turning point was the tight fourth set, in which Bled eventually had the better 34-32 cancelling out no less than six set points for the Italians. Macerata got off to a disastrous start in the tie-break (0-3) but got back in it. In the end, a block on Martino handed Bled the win (18-16).
Indesit Champions League: Fixtures
Playoffs 12 return legs
Wednesday 17 February at 8.30pm
Knack Randstad Roeselare (BEL) – Trentino BetClic
(Huhtaniska-Garthoff)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Ach Volley Bled (SLO)
(Karampetsos-Ivanov)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – OK Kakanj 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-18)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia: RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia: Sintini 3, Stokr 9, Bovolenta 6, Hubner 5, Cernic 5, Savani 8 , Pippi (l), Bucaioni 1, Botti 2, Nemec 13, Ogurcak 2, Lo Bianco, Fanuli, Coach. Di Pinto.
Ok Kakanj: Salihovic 5, Suljagic 7, Karisik, Lareinaga 2, Aganovic 5, Knezevic (l), Abdel 9, Lepic, Karic 2, Bjelopoljac, Beslic 1, Coric 2, Coach. Begic.
It was pretty much a walk in the park for Perugia at home against Kakanj in the Challenge Cup 8th of final return leg. It ended on a 3-0 score line as the Italians celebrated its qualification to the quarter finals. The name of the opponent will be known tomorrow when the Austrians of Posojilnica meet the Belgium team of Asse-Lennik. One thing we know: Perugia will host the first leg.
