Europe
Trentino and Latina qualified
2014 DenizBank Champions League
Trentino Diatec – Noliko Maaseik 3-1 (25-23, 25-19, 26-28, 25-23)
TRENTINO DIATEC – NOLIKO MAASEIK 3-1 (25-23, 25-19, 26-28, 25-23)
TRENTINO DIATEC: Sintini 1, Birarelli 5, Solé 13, Ferreira 12, Suxho 3, Lanza 6, Sokolov 13, Szabo 11, Colaci (L), Fedrizzi 10, Burgsthaler 4. DNP De Paola. Coach. Serniotti.
NOLIKO MAASEIK: Menzel 19, Devany, Valkiers 4, Pereyra 24, Derkoningen (L), Raymaekers 11, Lecat 7, Nilsson, Parkinson 6. DNP Hoho, Beesmans, Van Der Velden. Coach. Verstraten.
Out early last season, Trentino is back in the top seven teams in Europe. The group reached this important target thanks to its 3-1 victory over Maaseik in the playoffs 12, which added to the success of eight days ago in the first leg. The Italians needed just two sets to go through and once the mission was accomplished, coach Serniotti made some substitutions. Suxho guided the attack pretty well as Sokolov and Lanza proved to be very effective. In the playoffs 6, Trento will be up against Belogorie Belgorod. The Russians have knocked out Budvanska Budva Rivijera (Montenegro).
Roberto Serniotti (Coach Trentino Diatec): “We are very happy to be back at this playoffs 6 stage after just one year out of it. We could certainly not take it for granted. We earned it with a good team performance over the two meetings. We had collected a tough but important win last week, while we were careful and effective in the first two sets today. Once we had the results, I was glad to send players on who deserved to play and find their rhythm. They all proved they were in good shape, and personally I really wanted to win the game, which was not easy given all the changes of line-up. Everybody responded extremely positively. But now it’s already time to look ahead: there’s the league, the Italian cup and the Playoffs 6 ahead”.
PlayOffs 12 return legs: all the results:
Zenit Kazan – Berlin Recycling Volleys 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-23)
Jastrzebski Wegiel – Tours VB 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-22)
Belogorie Belgorod – Budvanska Rivijera Budva 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-16)
Knack Roeselare – Asseco Resovia Rzeszow 1-3 (18-25, 28-26, 16-25, 18-25)
2014 Challenge Cup
Andreoli Latina – Pärnu VK 3-0 (25-20, 30-28, 25-18)
ANDREOLI LATINA – PÄRNU VK 3-0 (25-20, 30-28, 25-18)
ANDREOLI LATINA: De Rocco 10, Rossini (L), Gitto 8, Sottile 4, Michalovic, Verhees 7, Tailli, Paris, Starovic 21, Fragkos 8. DNP Skrimov, Noda Blanco. Coach. Simoni.
PÄRNU VK: Raadik 13, Leppik 2, JÄrvekÜlg 2, Nassar 5, Koresaar 12, Cubrilo 2, Merisaar 7, Maier, PÕlluÄÄr 9. DNP Saarpere, PriimÄgi, Sartakov. Coach. Tali.
Latina wins the return leg in straight sets too and earns its pass to the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup. The Italians will meet the winner of Tallin (Estonia) versus Kamnik (Slovenia). This was therefore a winning debut for Dario Simoni as head coach in a tricky game in which Sasa Starovic led the way in attack with 21 points. Another key figure was the 15 blocks of the team (only 4 for the Estonians).
Gianrio Falivene (President Andreoli Latina): “It’s always nice to win, but that should only be an appetizer of things to come for us in the next rounds. Now we’ll get back in the league with a crucial game against Cuneo on Saturday, we still have a lot of time to get back on track in the league too”.
Dario Simoni (Coach Andreoli Latina): “We’ve reached our target. But we still have to work on the lapses of concentration which we’ve seen today again. I liked the attitude of the boys in the second set when the boys hanged in there right till the end”.
Piacenza vs Macerata for a place in Playoffs 6 tomorrow
Thursday January 23 at 8.30pm
Copra Elior Piacenza (ITA) – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (ITA)
(Vereecke-Sodja)
Live on Fox Sports 2
