Shakhtior claim first round of double header with Polonia
News
On Tuesday, in the Energia hall, another huge moment in the history of British sport materialised. IBB Polonia LONDON took on the champions of Belarus, Shakhtior SOLIGORSK, in the first round of the CEV Champions League Volley 2022. The result of Tuesday’s match was 3-2 in favour of the Belarusian team. Due to pandemic restrictions and thanks to the support from CEV and an agreement between the two clubs, the two games take place at a neutral venue in Poland – with the re-match following already on Thursday, October 7.
IBB Polonia easily claimed the first set (25-17) but in the second, the Londoners started badly under huge pressure from the Belarus team. Despite fighting well, the visitors took the initiative early on and the English champions found it hard to score. IBB Polonia made many easy mistakes, thus giving the set away 15-25. In the third set, both teams fought hard to take the lead, but in the end, Shakhtior handled the pressure well for a 25-23 win. In the fourth set, after a short lead by the visiting team, IBB Polonia came back to the game and scored six points in a row to take the lead 17-15 when Matias Banda - London team’s setter - was on the service line. The set ended in a 25-20 win for IBB Polonia. The visitors took the lead at the beginning of the tiebreak. IBB Polonia fought but the opponent did not falter and eventually celebrated a 3-2 win.
Andrei Marchenko from Shakhtior received the prize for the MVP of the match.
Ramon Martinez Gion“The match was hard and the score is upsetting. Both teams are on a similar level and both wanted to win. We lost the game because we lost focus. We did not have good reception and our opponent put pressure on the block, which caused us some trouble. Still everybody has a chance to advance to the next round so we will do our best in Thursday’s re-match."
Captain of IBB Polonia LONDON
The standard of play from both teams was very high. The organisation of the event was very professional thanks to the support provided by PGE Skra BELCHATOW – who are official partners of IBB Polonia. The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, with some 250 fans in attendance.
Yauheni Hretski“The match was tough but we can be happy with ourselves because we won in the end. We made some mistakes and we know what we need to improve before Thursday. It was nice to play in Poland, in an incredibly famous volleyball venue. We are coming back here in two days and we will do everything to win again.”
Libero of Shakhtior SOLIGORSK