Conegliano keep the clean sheet in Pool B, Fenerbahçe win the opening match in Nantes
Report
A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO continue the winning streak after securing their fourth straight-set victory in Pool B. With 12 points in the table, the Italian club keep a strong first position. Their opponent, Slovenian Calcit Volley KAMNIK, suffer another loss as the team is yet to record a victory in this season of the Champions League. Earlier on Tuesday Fenerbahçe Opet ISTANBUL celebrated the first victory in the second leg of the 4th Round at Champions League. Second in the table before the match, the team keeps its position in Pool B table, now with 9 points. VB Nantes, who are hosting this leg of the competition, keep the third position with 3 points.
Calcit Volley KAMNIK (SLO) v A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO (ITA)
0-3 (21-25, 11-25, 11-25)
Pool B
Calcit Volley KAMNIK opened the match with a small point gap at 8-6, but CONEGLIANO soon turned the match into their advantage. Italians led in all elements, scoring 12 and 6 points in block and serve respectively to only 3 and 1 of their Slovenian opponent. Italians approached the game without their star Paola Egonu, but that did not tarnish their motivation against KAMNIK. Lucille Gicquel led the team in the first part of the match, but it was McKenzie Adams who was named the best player of the match overall, scoring 16 points, including 4 in block and 10 in attack. Her team-mate Bozana Butigan added 5 points in block, becoming the best blocker in the match. On the other side of the net Eva Zatković scored 6 points for her team. Despite being weakened by the absence of their outside spiker Polona Marusic who tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the team’s journey to France, KAMNIK are determined to continue their fight in the upcoming two games.
-
Imoco Conegliano recorded their 43rd success in a row on Tuesday night in Nantes after winning against Calcit Volley KAMNIK.
-
The Slovenian team is still in search of their first victory in their Champions League journey.
-
The step was too high for the players of the coach JEMEC, even if the Italian base six was re-worked with, to be noted, the tenure of the French Lucille Gicquel at the forefront of the Italian attack. Back on the court of Mangin Beaulieu, where she played there for two seasons, she quickly regained her Nantes landmarks, greatly contributing to Imoco's success.
-
McKenzie ADAMS who shined brilliantly tonight with 16 points was voted MVP of the game.
-
The 2020 world champions of Conegliano were also able to be expeditious against Kamnik to preserve their strength for the rest of the tournament and their future busy schedule in the league. Wolosz's teammates wrapped this first match in Nantes in just 67 minutes.
Raphaela Folie"I couldn't wait to get back on the field, the day of the return, since unfortunately I'm used to it, is always beautiful, there is a charge and a crazy adrenaline. We start today a little slow, with a lot of mistakes, but luckily we won the first set, then we started playing as we know and there were no problems. Tomorrow we have to play from the beginning as well as at the last sets of this match."
Middle Blocker of A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO, returning after 4 months of absence
Aljosa JemecConegliano are great and too strong even with their, let’s say, second line-up. If you don’t play with serve and reception like we did in the first set, the other sets then happen. In both sets, we were not aggressive enough on the serve, so they got the points without any major problems. We know that we are able to play much better, we proved it in the first set, this must be the main point to continue this tournament. We have another tough game tomorrow, as Fenerbahce is much stronger now.
Coach Calcit Volley KAMNIK
Eva PogačarWe wanted to show tonight that we can match them, but it is clear to everyone what level this team is at. In the first set we managed to keep up with them, but later they showed how good a team they are. It was an honour for us to play against a team like Conegliano.
Captain of Calcit Volley KAMNIK
Fenerbahçe Opet ISTANBUL (TUR) vs VB NANTES (FRA)
3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-20)
Pool B
Fenerbahce dominated the match from first moments, taking an early 8-5 lead that soon was extended to 17-12. The five-point gap did not overwhelm NANTES, who slowly made their way back to 23-21, forcing Fenerbahce to take a time out. The Turkish side kept cool heads, winning the opening set 25-22. Melissa Vargas was Fenerbahce’s top scorer in the first set, succeeding with 9 out of 12 attempted attacks. The second part seemed more competitive between both teams and while Fenerbahce led the scoreboard, Nantes remained close behind in the first half of the set. A powerful block and strong spike by Brankica Mihajlovic made it 18-12 for the Turkish side. Fenerbahce were keen to not waste the point gap and continued their dominance until they secured a set at 25-16. The French team did not stand down, as they kept a tight score in the third set, making it level at 12-12, but Fenerbahce were not planning on letting the score turn against them as they secured the final set 25-20.
-
Melissa Vargas was named the best player of the match, scoring 19 points for her team - 18 in attack and one in block
-
Her team-mate Nur Babat was the best blocker in the match with 5 points scored in that element
-
On the other side of the net, Yaremis Mendaro scored 15 points for VB Nantes
-
Despite having the same points as A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO in the Pool B, Fenerbahce remains second in the table due to worse set ratio
-
This was the second Champions League encounter between VB Nantes and Fenerbahce in Mangin Beaulieu. Just like back in December 2014, VB Nantes lost in straight sets.
-
Like in the first leg in Conegliano last month, Lauren Schad's team lost in three sets with a total of 48 points scored.
-
Nantes did better on the scoreboard today, offering more resistance against the athletic Turkish side. Even if the final result is the same (0-3), "Nantes fought harder and showed a better face" according to coach Cyril Ong, scoring up to 58 points.
Zoran TerzićBefore the game we were discussing some tactics, but final conclusion is that if we will play with a lot of motivation and energy it will probably be a 3-0 game for us. And finally it was like this. I cannot say that we played on our highest level but we played good enough today to win 3-0 and this is the most important thing.
Coach of Fenerbahçe Opet ISTANBUL
Kelsey RobinsonI thought we played really consistent and when the other side pushed we responded well. I’m so happy to get the 3-0 win.
Outside spiker of Fenerbahçe Opet ISTANBUL
Cyril ONGAt the end of the game, it’s a mix of different feelings. I think that we could have done better in some situations, but against us there was a team that can accelerate very fast. When it happened, it was very complicated for us. According to me, we play pretty and we did our best regarding our opponent. We showed a better face than last Saturday: I’m very satisfied about that. Tomorrow, we will have to rise our level and try to win.
Coach of VB Nantes
Lucie DekeukelaireWe did some good things but we still do some errors. We were ahead and they came up to finally go ahead us whereas we had a good start. We helped them to get close to us. We'll have to be more consistent in the next game. We have to get the point anytime we have the opportunity. We've made some progress, let's keep it that way for the rest of the tournament.
Libero of VB Nantes