Both meetings in the 2nd round according the plan. About 70 minutes suffice to finish both matches. Both finished in straight sets. Won by favorites.
71 minutes
Crvena Zvezda Beograd – ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle 0:3 (18-25, 15-25, 19-25)
“If you have seen the quality of their roster and the way they served, you realize it was unrealistic for us to cause a surprise tonight. We have a young team, maybe too young for this arena and we had problems with our reception, so at a certain point we played with four receivers but still could not control their serve” – said after the match the head coach of the team from Serbia, Dusko Nikolic. It seems like those words describe perfectly the match. From the first whistle ZAKSA controlled the game. In two first sets immediately got a few-point advantage thanks to great serve, precise reception and efficiency on the net. Among the players of Beograd didn’t work the reception and, consequently, the set. At the beginning of the third part of the game the team from Kedzierzyn-Kozle lost the concentration. The hosts led 6-1, when ZAKSA started to chase its opponents. It lasted several minutes to make the score even (10-10). Crvena Zvezda again had problems with attack. The team from Poland took the advantage and eventually won this set and the whole match.
In statistics ZAKSA outclassed Beograd. In block 8-2, in attack 59%-43%, positive reception 70%-56%, personal aces 9-2. The best scorer of ZAKSA was Antonin Rouzier with 19 points (3 blocks, 3 aces and 65% in attack). From the other side the best performer was Dusan Petkovic with 12 points (1 ace and 41% in attack).
79 minutes
Tours VB – Trentino Diatec 0:3 (19-25, 16-25, 23-25)
The team from France, after last week defeat against ZAKSA, wanted to show a great performance. However, tonight’s opponent couldn’t be more demanding. The match with four-time world champions was quite unequal. Each set was almost identical. The team from Italy quickly got 2,3 points of advantage, leading on the tecnical time outs. Trento played well in block, especially Jan Stokr (3 blocks), in attack, as always outstanding, Osmany Juantorena, well supported by Stokr. During the match, the Italians didn’t give space to the opponents. They could feel the danger only at the end of the 3rd set (24-19), when the hosts cancelled 4 consecutive match-balls. An error in the service area of Nuno Pinheiro ended the match.
The numbers show the domination of Trento. In block 11-5, in attack 51%-35%, positive reception 64%-53%, aces 3-3. The best scorers were: Juantorena of Trento (16 points, including 2 personal aces, 2 blocks and 63% in attack) and David Konecny of Tours (16 points, including 1 block and 39% in attack).
The 3rd round will be played from November, 13th to November, 15th. Trentino Diatec will face ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle and Crvena Zvezda Beograd will host Tours VB.