#ChampionsLeague: Lube win in Moscow, Kazan beats Gdańsk at tie break.

Lube Civitanova win in Moscow, but Dinamo are in still in the race!
Lube Civitanova have achieved the victory at the start of the CEV Champions League quarterfinals, even if the 3-2 victory in Moscow doesn’t guarantee anything to the Italian team, which will have to play at the high level in the second leg if they want to reach the semifinals. It was really a battle between to these very strong team.
Osmany Juantorena and Tsvetan Sokolov, scoring 24 and 23 points, respectively, were the top scorers of the match. In the home team, Yuri Berezhko and Romanas Shkulyavichus had 17 points each.

Dick Kooy, outside hitter of Dinamo Moscow: “The first set we started very nervous. Lube had all rights to win the set as they were playing at a high level, and we weren’t. Then we started to play much better. We put up a fight, we used our chances and extended the match to five sets. It is too bad we didn’t win the fifth set. Lube are a very strong team, but we will try to win the second game there. We will train well and play well, and we will see what happens. We have a few days to prepare for this game. It will be a big game.”

Ferdinando De Giorgi, head coach of Cucine Lube Civitanova: “This game was very tough for us. I know that Dinamo are a very good team. Today they played very well in defence. Unbelievable defence! My team made a lot of mistakes in attack. We normally play better in attack. It was a good match for us since we won it. It will be very difficult to prepare for the next match with Dinamo because we will have a very important match in the Italian league when we arrive at home. After it, we will think about the next game with Dinamo and prepare for it.”

The return game at the italian Eurosuole Forum of Civitanova Marche will take place on March 21, starting at 20:30 local time.

Dramatic game also at Ergo Arena: victory for Zenit Kazan but also in the tie-break.
The reigning champions of Zenit Kazan had a really difficult game in Gdansk in the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Gdansk gave a huge resistance and we can say they won’t surrender even in the second leg match!
Zenit Kazan started much better, taking the lead, however, we saw the answer of Gdansk in the second set while the Russian side again took the lead in the third set.
It was also a great battle between Maciej Muzaj and Maxim Mikhailov. They scored 27 points each, while Matt Anderson contributed with 19 points for Zenit Kazan’s victory.

Andrea Anastasi, coach of Trefl Gdańsk: “Before the match I said that it would be like a battle between a Cinquecento and a Ferrari, but I drive Fiat Abarth and today we were so agile, like my small, sports car. I am extremely proud of my team. When we fight like this in front of our crowd, we give them a great spectacle. We had many defeats this season, but after this one, I can say that I am very proud of my players. We fought for every ball, we tried to do our best; honestly, Zenit today were better than us only with their service game.”

Ruben Schott, player of Trefl Gdańsk: “We could have won today, till the end it was really, really close. I am extremely happy because we played a very good match; I think it was the best match for us in the Champions League so far. I hope we will continue to play like this and we can achieve something in Kazan.”

CEV Champions League Quarterfinals:
Dinamo Moscow – Lube Civitanova 2-3 (10:25, 25:23, 25:23, 18:25, 13:15)
Gdansk – Zenit Kazan 2-3 (19:25, 25:23, 23:25, 25:23, 13:15)

Today:
PGE Skra Belchatow – Zenit St. Petersburg 18:00 CET
Chaumont – Perugia 20:30 CET

Source and Images: CEV.