CUNEO and ODINTSOVO score tie-break victories to open Challenge Round
24.2.2010
Luxembourg, February 24, 2010. There were a couple of away victories tonight for the opening matches of the Challenge Round in the CEV Cup. The Italians of Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO scored tonight a 3:2 victory in the first match against Spain’s CAI TERUEL. Russia’s Iskra ODINTSOVO also needed a tie-break to outplay France’s TOURS VB. This match featured many ups and downs, ODINTSOVO impressed the French audience with some massive blocks but local heroes Ngapeth and Konecny (top scorer tonight with 24 points) were the key for TOURS VB to tie the count in the fourth set. However, German star Jochen Schöps set the tone for a quick tie-break with his great serves and the match came to an end at 15-9.
In Spain the Italians of CUNEO started off very flawlessly, committing only a few errors in attack and showing a solid defence. Thus, they were soon able to go ahead on the scoreboard, leading 2:8 at the first technical time-out. CAI TERUEL appeared to be somewhat nervous and although the Spaniards did produce a small comeback before the second technical break, CUNEO was easily able to win the set 13-25. The hosts enjoyed a great start in the second set, in which they managed to gain an 8-point advantage, a quite considerable feat. Nevertheless, the Italians were still tuned, but nevertheless not able to close the gap (25-16 for TERUEL). In the third set, TERUEL was able to take the lead, although this time with less advantage, the first technical time being called at 8:5. It was, therefore, a very tense and nervous section of the game. An excruciatingly tight final was on the cards as the scoreboard marked 20:20. Only at the very last minute the Italians moved ahead to end the set at 24-26. With TERUEL having tied the count in the fourth set, the final decision came in the tie-break with CUNEO eventually prevailing 15-10 to look confidently to the return match scheduled for next week in Italy.
TOURS VB (FRA) vs. Iskra ODINTSOVO (RUS) 2:3 (23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 9-15)
CAI TERUEL (ESP) vs. Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO (ITA) 2:3 (13-25, 25-16, 24-26, 25-23, 10-15)
