Champions League: Modena and Warszawa wins the first matches of Pool D in Belgium

2 min read

15 December 2020 Ivan

In the opening game of Pool D in Roeselare, Belgium, italian powerhouse Leo Shoes Modena faced the russians giants of Kuzbass Kemerovo, and the match turned out into a thrilling four-setter that ended with the victory of the Italian club. Daniele Lavia was the top scorer of Modena with 13 points, followed by Daniele Mazzone, Luca Vettori and Nemanja Petric who contributed with 12 points each. Ivan Zaytsev was the best scorer on the other side and of the match with 23 points. He played against his former club as he had spent the last two seasons in Modena.

Jenia Grebennikov libero of Leo Shoes Modena: “I think we started the game very well, we pushed Kemerovo to lose the first 2 sets, because I think we were more in the rhythm, we played better then them, and then, I think Sivozhelez changed a little bit the game, gave some energy and pushed the team to win the third set. And after it was very difficult, but we came back in the last set. It was very important for us to take 3 points because in the Champions League every point is important.”

Igor Kobzar, Kuzbass Kemerovo: “This season’s Champions League we have strong, strong group. Every team, I think, has the same level, and it’s not good that we didn’t take points in this game. I just can say that I did some mistakes and didn’t help my team to win.”

In second match, Verva Warszawa Orlen Paliwa win in straight sets over the hosts of Knack Roeselare. Artur Szalpuk was the best scorer of the game with 15 points and enjoyed 63% of success in attack along with 59% of positive receptions. In addition, his spike closed the game too, while Matthijs Verhanneman was a top scorer of Roeselare with 12 points.
Interestingly, this was 100th European Cup game in the Roeselare’s jersey for outside hitter Matthijs Verhanneman.

Steven Vanmedegael, head coach of Knack Roeselare: “What I was on beforehand a bit afraid of became true. The problem is that we nearly never deal with this type of level in the Belgian competition. Verva WARSZAWA Orlen Paliwa plays a volleyball with much more power than we are used to. In set 2 we had some chances but missed two crucial actions at the end of the set. If we take set 2 it could have been another match. In set 3 the light went out for us halfway the set.”

📌| CEV Champions League 2020/21 | Pool D @ Roeselare (BEL)