Man of the hour, Semeniuk leads Zaksa to third CLVolleyM win
Story of the day
As many as 600 spectators at the Dvorana Lukna in Maribor, Slovenia watched live the encounter between the local OK Merkur MARIBOR with the reigning CLVolleyM champions from Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE in Pool C. Despite the fact the home side had their chances, the players of head coach Gheorghe Crețu were able to close the match in three sets, recording their third CLVolleyM victory this season, and are now one point behind pool leaders Cucine Lube Civitanova before the Super Match of the Week between the Italians and the Russian giants of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk due to take place this Wednesday.
Kamil Semeniuk shined in the most important moments of the game, delivering a great performance at the serving line, and finishing with as many as six aces, grabbed the MVP award. Topping the charts with 16 points, he recorded as well eight winning spikes and two kill blocks.
OK Merkur MARIBOR 0-3 Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE (19-25, 11-25, 21-25)
The hosts started off good, not leaving their famous opponents the chance to build a big point difference. After a close call (9-9), Norbert Huber shined with a spike and a block, helping his team to start taking slowly the leadership. Inspired, Grupa Azoty, led by Aleksander Sliwka (two blocks) and Krzysztof Rejno (one block) took things under control (16-12) and emerged victorious. The more effective performance on the block (four in total) sealed the deal for the guests in this set.
The reigning CLVolleyM champs stormed out in the second set, proving far better on the block (six to zero) and aced as many as three times (to zero by the hosts. All three aces were recorded by Kamil Semeniuk, who turned out to be the man of the hour, making it really difficult for Maribor’s reception). The head coach of OK Merkur MARIBOR, Sebastijan Škorc tried different scenarios to turn things around, using his substitution players, but it didn’t lead to any success.
The home side started inspired and motivated in the third set, taking the lead at 10-7. However, showing more focused game afterwards, the guests, again thanks to crucial performance on the serving line by Semeniuk, were able to tie the score (13-13). The defending champions took then the leadership, and despite the efforts by the home side to bring back the intrigue in the match, emerged victorious and congratulated themselves with the victory.
Rok Bračko“We knew who we were competing against. In the second set, we didn’t start strong, but at the end of the match, both teams showed their best capabilities. I believe we showed our best game.”
Player of OK Merkur MARIBOR
Sebastijan Škorc“Our reception today was not so good, but otherwise, we played at about 90 % of our capabilities. We gave our hearts, we gave our everything, but it simply is not enough against the team who won the Champions League last year.”
Head coach of OK Merkur MARIBOR
AS CANNES Dragons 2-3 Fenerbahçe HDI ISTANBUL (19-25, 25-19, 25-19, 13-25, 9-15)
AS CANNES Dragons and Fenerbahçe HDI ISTANBUL locked horns in Pool E, with the hosts taking their first two sets in Europe’s club competition this season. However, this wasn’t enough to stop the Turkish powerhouse, who, led by Salvador Hidalgo Oliva and Olympic Champion Yacine Louati (each one with 15 points), claimed their second win in the group. Furthermore, Louati was named MVP of the game.
Overall, the guest team were slightly better on attacking (51 to 46 winning spikes), on blocking (12 to nine) and aced more (11 to nine).
Sport LISBOA e Benfica 0-3 Zenit SAINT PETERSBURG (16-25, 18-25, 16-25)
With normalcy being back in the Zenit Saint Petersburg (Jenia Grebennikov back to his usual role of libero) and counting Egor Kliuka, Victor Poletaev and Ivan Iakovlev, Zenit Saint Petersburg did not face any problems in their Tuesday battle in Pool D against the underdogs from Sport LISBOA e Benfica, outclassing them in three sets for 78 minutes.
While the hosts tried their best to keep up with the Russian giants’ rhythm on attack (36 to 40 winning spikes), the players of head coach Marcel Matz did not manage to find a proper answer to Zenit’s better performance on the block (nine to two) and at the serving line (five aces to two).
Fedor Voronkov finished as top scorer with 14 points to his name.
Victor Poletaev“Benfica is a great team, it has a great history. It's not easy to play against them, but we made a great game with just a few mistakes.”
Zenit player and MVP
Ivo Casas"It was clear that the physical aspect made the difference today. They did very few mistakes - something that it’s not normal, even at this level. They caused us a lot of problems".
Player of SL Benfica player
VC Greenyard MAASEIK 3-2 Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13)
Jolan Cox (22 points) of the home side and Martin Atanasov (20 points) from the guest team stole the show, but it was the overall better performance on attack by VC Greenyard MAASEIK (61 to 48 winning spikes) that helped them claim the victory.