Playoffs 6 first leg: Piacenza beaten by Kazan
2014 DenizBank Champions League
Results:
Jastrzebski Wegiel (POL) – Asseco Resovia Rzeszow (POL) 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23)
Belogorie Belgorod (RUS) – Trentino Diatec (ITA) 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-18)
Copra Elior Piacenza (ITA) – Zenit Kazan (RUS) 0-3 (23-25, 22-25, 22-25)
COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA – ZENIT KAZAN 0-3 (23-25, 22-25, 22-25)
COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA: Marra (L), Le Roux, Papi 8, Fei 2, Kaliberda 13, Simon Aties 10, Tencati 5, Vettori 11, De Cecco 1. DNP Partenio, Smerilli, Husaj. Coach. Monti.
ZENIT KAZAN: Anderson 13, Apalikov 1, Sivozhelez 16, Volkov 6, Grbic 4, Yakovlev, Abrosimov 3, Verbov (L), Babichev, Mikhailov 13. DNP Mochalov, Kobzar. Coach. Alekno.
Piacenza conceded its first defeat of the season in the Champions League against Kazan at the playoffs 6 stage. This is also the first home loss since February 24, 2013. However, Papi and co made it real hard for the Russians with three tight sets. Piacenza missed Zlatanov badly while Fei went out halfway through the first set. Sivozhelez was outstanding for the Russians with 16 points (2 aces and 2 blocks), while Anderson and Mikhailov added 13 apiece. Now the Italians will need a breakthrough in the return leg: they must win 3-0 or 3-1 to earn the right to play the Golden Set.
Alekno Vladimir (Coach Zenit Kazan): “Despite this victory, we keep our feet on the ground. The return leg is at home but that doesn’t mean we already are in the final four. Let’s wait for this return game, this is the one that matters most”.
Samuele Papi (Copra Elior Piacenza): “We tried our best till the end. Congratulations to Kazan, they always kept us under pressure, and their serve was top quality. We made a big push, especially in the second set. We can regret a couple of mistakes but certainly not the effort. We have to try to find some sort of miracle in Kazan next week: we believe in it, if we didn’t it’d be better not to go”.
Fixtures
2014 DenizBank Champions League – Playoffs 6 return leg
Wednesday February 12 at 4.30pm (Italian time)
Zenit Kazan (RUS) – Copra Elior Piacenza (ITA)
(Adler-Partiainen)
Thursday February 13 at 8.30pm
Trentino Diatec (ITA) – Belogorie Belgorod (RUS)
(Nederhoed-Grieder)
