Noliko defeats Sofia by 3-1 in a CEV match - Volleyball update
The CEV Volleyball Champions League is under way in Europe and one of the preliminary round matches took place between Noliko MAASEIK and the CSKA SOFIA of Bulgaria on Tuesday, December 13th. The match between the two teams was witnessed by a
total of 2,100 spectators. The two teams put on a good show for their audience and made the match reach its conclusion after four sets with MAASEIK ending up as the winners at the following final set scores: 25-27, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-20.
The first set of the match started off with both the teams playing with energy and enthusiasm. Neither side was letting the other take dominance for long and the set kept on going back and forth with no one sure where the tables would turn until the very
end. Sofia was able to get itself the lead at 8-6 and kept the advantage with themselves till the middle of the frame at 16-13. Noliko was in no mood to give up the chase and kept trailing behind all through till 20-23. After that point, Nolika was able to
spur up momentum and push themselves forwards to bag the first set of the game at 27-25.
The confidence generated by winning the opening set got the Nolika players coming out strong in the second set and they were able to get the lead with themselves at 8-5. Once they had the lead, Nolika was able to maintain their dominance at 12-7 and later
on with 16-8. The huge gap between the scores did not do well to boast the morale of the Sofia squad and they kept on falling behind as Nolika spurred on ahead to grab the second frame at 25-16.
The third set was a bit more competitive as both the teams fought hard to gain dominance in the match but it was the Nolika side that was able to come out stronger and bag the frame at 25-22. The fourth set saw a tie at 15-15 but after that point Nolika
was able to assert themselves and left Sofia behind to seal the deal on the frame at 25-20.
Jason Haldane of Sofia expressed himself in the following words after the match had come to its end: “We played a good first set and we had our chances also in set 3 and 4 but we made too many mistakes”.
On the other hand, Pieter Verhees of Bulgaria shared his views by giving these statements: “We started playing well from the second set as we realized such routined guys can be beaten only if they lose composure. They know very well how to play but we did
our job properly tonight.”
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