BERLIN Recycling Volleys repeat the history, beating ACH Volley LJUBLJANA in straight sets in their second encounter in Pool C. Berlin who approached the match with a second position in the table with 9 points, remain in this place trailing behind Zenit KAZAN with a small set ratio difference. ACH Volley LJUBLJANA keep the third position with just 6 points and will be facing a tough challenge on Thursday, playing tournament hosts and Pool leaders after the first leg, Zenit Kazan.

Berlin sets tough conditions for Ljubljana from the first moments of the set and they were soon holding a 5-12 advantage. Slovenians were not discouraged by it, as they slowly creeped back closer to make it 10-14, forcing Berlin to call a time out to distract Ljubljana from decreasing the point gap. The trick seemed to pay off, as Berlin extended the gap once again. A double block on Mitar Tzourits gave them the first set point at 17-24, but Ljubljana managed to save first two attempts until Berlin won the set 19-25. The second set proved more competitive and while Ljubljana were one step behind, they would not allow Berlin to go too for ahead. The German side eventually found their way to go from 16-18 to 16-21 and the five-point advantage proved to difficult For Ljubljana to decrease, as Berlin won their second set 20-25.
Despite trailing behind Berlin, Ljubljana’s opposite Mitar Tzourits was the leading scorer after two sets with 11 points, followed by Jan Pokersnik with 9. On the other side of the net Antone Brehme and Carle Timothee scored 9 points each for Berlin. German team showed the biggest dominance yet going ahead as soon as 2-7, with the solid performance at the service line by Sergey Grankin and Samuele Tuia. Ljubljana were not able to find and edge on Berlin, as the German side continued to increase advantage to 10-17 and 12-22, finishing the set with their biggest difference yet at 13-25.

• It was the first time Berlin Recycling Volleys played in front of spectators since their first home game in German Bundesliga four months ago

• Anton Brehme was one of the best players in the match, scoring 12 points, including four aces. His team-mate Brazilian middle blocker Renan Michelucci also showed an outstanding performance, scoring 11 points within 100% attack efficiency and including 4 blocks

• Russian setter Sergey Grankin found the perfect mix by distributing the balls to his teammates. 5 (!) players scored double-digit in just three sets (Brehme 12; Carle, Patch and Michelucci 11; Tuia 10 points)

• The 3-0 means the sixth win in the sixth game for the Germans against the Slovenians from Ljubljana in the CEV Champions League

• Mitar Tzourits and Jan Pokersnik were among three top scorers of the match as they scored 12 points each alongside their opponent Anton Brehme

• Pokersnik played with 65% efficiency in attack, scoring 11 points in that element

Benjamin Patch, opposite of Berlin Recycling Volleys: “This victory was so important. We felt the spirit of our fans from far away and it was nice to play in front of some spectators. We had a good day, showed a good game and now we go to take rest to prepare for Kazan tomorrow.”

Anton Brehme, middle blocker of Berlin Recycling Volleys: “I am very happy and satisfied with our performance. Today we, as a team, played on a high level. Maybe it was the best match we showed up this season. Finally, my service was running this time – as for the whole team. Now we are looking forward to compete against Kazan.”

Matija Plesko, coach of ACH Volley Ljubljana: “Almost everything went wrong for us, I’m not a very happy guy at the moment. We didn’t do “zero” on serve, so we had plan to push Berlin away from the net but we didn’t do that. They did that to us. We didn’t do any damage in block, we blocked only twice and had a couple of good touches - they blocked us nine times and serves us eight aces, so it’s hard to play against Berlin. Their game and tactics are not good for us - let’s say it that way, but I expected more and I’m really disappointed.”