CEV CUP: Frankfurt redeem for losing 1st leg at home to advance to 1/8 finals, Chaumont reach Golden Set but Russian league leaders Lokomotiv go to 1/8 finals

United Volleys Frankfurt redeemed for losing to Shakhtior Soligorsk at home by a 3-2 in the first leg of the 16th finals of the 2020 CEV Volleyball Cup: thanks to a good performance of Dutch outside hitter Floris van Rekom and Serbian opposite hitter Milija Mrdak who scored 23 and 21 points respectively, the German side prevailed in Belarus in four sets and progressed to the eighth-finals.

Reactions:
Viktar Beksha, head coach of Shakhtior: “In the second match, everything was decided in the end of the fourth set, we could not break their block, made a couple of mistakes, which affected the end of the game. At this stage of the competition, two equal teams fought for every point. I am pleased that we won in Germany, but I expected more from the home match. There is nothing to hide about that.”

Stelio DeRocco, coach of United Volleys FRANKFURT: “The first couple of sets were extremely good. I will not say that we played poorly in Frankfurt, but we must pay tribute to Shakhtior. This is a good team, which we meet for the second year in a row. We were afraid they would be in high spirits, but we ourselves aimed at success, and we achieved it with very few mistakes only.”

Swiss Lausanne UC nearly spoiled the celebration of Mladost Brčko from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who had an open road to the next round after a 3-1 victory in the first leg. In the rematch, Lausanne swept the opponents but then lost in the Golden Set.

Chaumont VB 52 was really near of making an upset in the competition. Although they can’t be considered underdogs in this year’s CEV Cup, they certainly had this role in a duel of the 16th finals against Lokomotiv Novosibirsk.
Despite Chaumont barely have a positive win-loss ratio in the French Championship and occupy fourth place in the standings with a 7-5 score, Lokomotiv are very dominant in the Russian league with a 9-1 score, which put them on the leading position. This fact was visible in the first leg in Siberia in which the home side destroyed Chaumont in straight sets. However, in the rematch, the French team took full revenge but have fallen in the Golden Set: 3-0 (25:16, 25:19, 25:20) Golden Set: 12-15.
Thus, Lokomotiv went to the eighth-finals of the CEV Cup despite committing as many as 34 unforced errors, 13 more than rivals. Pavel Kruglov and Aleksey Rodichev scored 10 points each for Lokomotiv, while Bulgarian Atanasov scored 19 points on the other side.

2020 CEV Volleyball Cup, 16th finals – 2nd leg
ALL RESULTS:

December 17:

OK Budva (MNE) – OK Kakanj 78 Kakanj (BIH) 3-0 (25:13, 25:18, 25:10), 1st leg 3-1

Ford Store Levoranta Sastamala (FIN) – Hypo Tirol AlpenVolleys Hahcing (GER) 2-3 (20:25, 25:23, 17:25, 25:23, 8:15), 1st leg 0-3

Shakhtior Soligorsk (BLR) – United Volleys Frankfurt (GER) 1-3 (20:25, 21:25, 25:21, 21:25), 1st leg 3-2

C.S. Municipal Arcada Galați (ROU) – Savo Volley Kuopio (FIN) 3-0 (25:20, 25:15, 25:18), 1st leg 3-0

Mladost Brčko (BIH) – Lausanne UC (SUI) 0-3 (21:25, 23:25, 16:25); Golden Set 15:13, 1st leg 3-1

December 18:

Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS) – Neftochimic 2010 Burgas (BUL) 3-0 (25:21, 25:22, 25:19), 1st leg 3-0

Lindemans Aalst (BEL) – Active Living Orion Doetinchem (NED) 3-0 (26:24, 25:13, 25:20), 1st leg 3-0

Chaumont VB 52 (FRA) – Lokomotiv Novosibirsk (RUS) 3-0 (25:16, 25:19, 25:20), Golden Set: 12-15, 1st leg 0-3

Lindaren Volley Amriswil (SUI) – GFC Ajaccio (FRA) 2-3 (23:25, 25:21, 17:25, 25:18, 8:15), 1st leg 0-3

SK Zadruga Aich/Dob (AUT) – VK Ostrava (CZE) 0-3 (23:25, 25:27, 19:25), 1st leg 3-2

December 19:

PAOK Thessaloniki (GRE) – Barkom-Kazhany Lviv (UKR) 0-3 (22:25, 21:25, 23:25); Golden Set 14:16, 1st leg 3-1

IBB Polonia London (ENG) – Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn (NED) 0-3 (14:25, 20:25, 20:25), 1st leg 0-3

Arkas İzmir (TUR) – Dinamo București (ROU) 3-1 (28:30, 25:15, 25:23, 27:25), 1st leg 3-0

Dukla Liberec (CZE) – Galatasaray HDI İstanbul (TUR) 3-0 (27:25, 25:19, 25:16); Golden Set 11:15, 1st leg 1-3

Leo Shoes Modena (ITA) – Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE) 3-0 (25:18, 25:22, 25:22), 1st leg 3-2

Automatically in the 1/8 finals: Mladost Zagreb (CRO).

Source and photo: cev.eu