Tuesday was a great night for the Russian participants in the women’s CEV Champions League. With three Russian internationals leading the way and earning the MVP awards, Dinamo Moscow, Dinamo-Ak Bars Kazan and Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region all claimed emphatic straight-set victories on the last competition day of the pool stage to snatch the last vacancies in the quarterfinal line-up.
Goncharova, Koroleva, Voronkova shine in Champions League deciders
Three Russian teams sprint down the final stretch to snatch last quarterfinal vacancies
Published 10:42, 16 Feb 2022
Irina Koroleva and her Dinamo Kazan teammates celebrate in Plovdiv (source: cev.eu)
Nataliya Goncharova contributed 16 points towards Dinamo Moscow’s brilliant 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) away victory at Igor Gorgonzola Novara, which not only lifted the Russian powerhouse to the first place of the final Pool C standings on a 5-1 win-loss record, but also pushed their Italian opponents just below the qualification line as they needed to win at least a set to make it into the three best-ranked pool runners-up. Bulgarian national team captain Elitsa Vasileva added another 12 points towards Dinamo’s success, while Igor’s Turkish opposite Ebrar Karakurt delivered the match high of 22 points.
In Tuesday’s other Pool C game - which had no bearing on quarterfinal qualification - Canadian international Kiera Van Ryk hammered out 33 points (including three aces and three blocks) in Turk Hava Yollari Istanbul’s comeback from two sets down to defeat their Czech hosts Dukla Liberec by 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-16, 25-23, 15-10).
In Pool D, and after losing their previous match last Friday at home to Fenerbahce Opet Istanbul (with two Russian internationals, Arina Fedorovtseva and Anna Lazareva, tallying 20+ points each for the Turkish side), Dinamo Kazan were in a must-win-three-points situation as they visited Bulgarian champions Maritza Plovdiv. Their star middle blocker Irina Koroleva was on fire in attack producing 10 spiking points at a 59% success rate adding an ace and four stuffs to top the scorers’ chart of the match on 15 points and claim the MVP award in Dinamo’s 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-20) victory, which secured their spot among Europe’s best eight club teams.
“It had been a while since I last received an individual award, so it feels very good and I hope that it was well deserved on my side,” Koroleva told Volleyball World after the match. “Our previous game with Fenerbahce did not go as we wanted, but now we advance in the competition and our goal is to show our best performance going forward and achieve the best results possible.”
Fedorovtseva on the serve (photo: cev.eu)
Also in Pool D, Fedorovtseva again showed her serving prowess as she fired five aces towards the 17-point match high (also including three blocks) in Fenerbahce’s 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-19) home win over France’s Beziers Volley as the Turkish team finished top of the pool, unbeaten. The 20-year-old Russian prodigy topped the pool stage’s individual rankings for both best servers (20 aces) and best scorers (128 points).
In Pool A meanwhile, Lokomotiv Kaliningrad progressed to the quarterfinals as the best-ranked pool runner-up after mastering a 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 25-18) shutout of leaders Developres Rezeszow of Poland. Russian international outside Irina Voronkova made a 14-point contribution and was honoured as the MVP of the match, while her Polish teammate Malwina Smarzek came up with the match high of 17 points against her compatriots. Developres still finished first in the pool on 5-1, right above Lokomotiv on 4-2.
Irina Voronkova in action (photo: cev.eu)
In Pool B, Belgium’s Lise Van Hecke scored 23 times in Vero Volley Monza’s 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-23) clean slate at Finland’s LP Salo. The Italian team finished on 4-2 as runners-up to undefeated pool leaders VakifBank Istanbul, but had to wait for the outcome of the other pools before celebrating their spot just above the cut-off line for the quarterfinals.
Poland’s Grupa Azoty Chemik Police also had a shot at qualifying as one of the pool runners-up. And they would have qualified, had they won at least a point from their visit at defending title-holders and unbeaten Pool E leaders Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano. However, with a 24-point match high from Paola Egonu, the Italian team did not allow any surprises and mastered a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) shutout.
To sum it up, three Russian teams – Dinamo Moscow, Lokomotiv and Dinamo Kazan, two Turkish teams – VakifBank and Fenerbahce, two Italian teams – Imoco and Vero Volley, and Poland’s Developres made up the line-up for the quarterfinals set to take place in a home-and-away format next month. The drawing of lots is scheduled on Friday.
