Romania set to clash with Poland in semi-finals of CEV Challenge Cup – Volleyball news
The crucial semi-final round of the 2012 CEV Men’s Challenge Cup will get the green light on Wednesday, March 14 and Romanian 2004 Tomis CONSTANTA will take on Poland’s Politechnika WARSZAWSKA in the opening match.
The city of Constanta will set up the field of play for the first semi-final at 1700 (local time).
The Romanian team exhibited a stellar performance in the Challenge Round of the tournament and defeated some of the tough opponents to reach the final four. They edged out Maccabi TEL AVIV in the in the last round of semi-finals play for the 2012 CEV Volleyball
Challenge Cup.
According to the set formula of the competition, the two teams played two matches in the semi-final qualifying round. First match was hosted by Romania, where the hosts took full advantage of the familiar conditions and breezed past Israeli team in straight
sets. The rowdy Romanian fans played a big role in their team’s victory.
Romania’s Philip Maiyo, Blanco and Torcello performed exceptionally well and dominated the whole scene. They dictated the pace with better combination of attacks and blocks. Eventually Tomis claimed the terrific ‘3-0’ win in the match.
Romania’s victory was very much credited to head coach Cannestracci, who returned in the team after a long break.
The coach said, “I am happy because I had left Tomis after winning the national league some years ago and tonight celebrated my comeback with a win.”
The Romanian hotshots carried the momentum in the next match, which was played in Tel Aviv, Israel. The hosts dropped the decision in four-set play and ended up the quarter-final stage with overall score of 0-2. Romanian squad clinched success in both matches
and reserved a berth in the semi-final.
On the other hand, Polish team Politechnika WARSZAWSKA pulled off success in the quarter-finals. Poles were challenged by Russian Lokomotyv, which proved to be a tough opponent. They resisted to their full potential in the first match but dropped the decision
in Poland’s favour, 1-3.
Quite similarly in the second match, they gave a hard time to the Poles but couldn’t achieve success. The match spanned over five tiring sets and finally Poland emerged as successful team.
In the next run, the Romanian and Polish teams are up for the ticket to the finals. Looking at the previous set and point ratio, Romania is in better position. Moreover, the first match of the semi-final stage will be hosted by Romania. It will create an
opportunity for Romanian team to put some psychological pressure on the rival side.
If Romania are able to claim the first match, they will have better prospects to go into the finals. The Polish team will be required to demonstrate a flawless performance, in order to cope with the power of Constanta. The clock is ticking down quickly and
soon the two teams will get down to the action on the centre court and the better team will catch the limelight.
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