Setter or opposite, Nimir fires Trentino into Champions League quarterfinals

Trentino Itas emphatically won Pool E to advance to the men’s CEV Champions League Volley 2021 quarterfinals. At this week’s second round-robin tournament in Friedrichshafen, it was once again Dutch star Nimir Abdel-Aziz, this time in his more customary role of opposite, who fired the Italian squad on the way to victory.

Nimir, who was a setter in the early days of his volleyball career, had to go back to his playmaker role during the first Pool E tournament in Trento as both regular setters of the home team were not available to compete. Back then, the 201-cm-tall athlete stole the show not only with his excellent performance in the organisation of Trentino’s offence, but also with his brilliant serving, contributing as many as 13 aces towards the squad’s three wins.

About two months later, Nimir was back in the opposite’s position for the second three-day event. Just ahead of the tournament, he jokingly, but tactfully, expressed his doubts that the team would perform as well as they did in Trento. "We were very good at winning all three games in December, because we played without our two regular setters, but this does not mean that now our path is downhill,” he said.

It certainly wasn’t. With hosts VfB Friedrichshafen who had been second in the standings, withdrawing from the tournament for quarantine reasons, Trentino had to face their next toughest challenge, Russian champions Lokomotiv Novosibirsk on the first competition night in Germany. The Dutch star, who had turned 29 just four days earlier, scored the match high of 17 points, including three aces, led the team to an emphatic straight-set victory, which stamped Trentino’s ticket to the quarterfinals, and claimed the MVP of the Match honours.

Nimir scored another 20 points (“only” two aces this time) the following day to top the scorers’ chart of the game against Czechia’s CEZ Karlovarsko. Trentino won by 3-1 to make sure they finish the pool stage unbeaten. In fact, the Italian squad are on a 10-match victory streak since the start of the Champions League season as they also had to do some winning in the first two rounds of the competition.

With his 18 aces over the five matches played in Pool E, Nimir Abdel-Aziz was by far the best server of the pool stage. The next best individual result from the serving line was 11 aces, achieved by PGE Skra Belchatow’s Mateusz Bieniek and Knack Roeselare’s Matthijs Verhanneman. If the direct serving points from the first two rounds are added, then Nimir’s ace tally bubbles up to a fantastic total of 28.

The best blockers of the pool stage also emerged from Pool E. Lokomotiv’s Dmitrii Lyzik topped the chart on 18 kill blocks, while Trentino’s Srecko Lisinac followed right behind on 17.

In the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League, Trentino Itas will play against Germany’s Berlin Recycling Volleys who qualified from Pool C as the third best among the five pool runners-up. The first encounter should take place in Berlin between February 23 and 25 and the return match in Trento between March 2 and 4.

Visit Pool E’s match centres.