EuroVolley Cup 2010 - U18 Boys Club Championship


  • First U18 international club competition to be played in Italy next September
    The promotion of sport across the youth is an absolute priority also for the International Olympic Committee – with the very first Youth Olympic Games coming up in only a few days in Singapore – and the IOC recently established also a joint forum together with the United Nations to boost human development via the practice of sport. Within this general frame it is hence necessary to activate sport events that are closely associated to cultural and educational programs.


    Starting from a recommendation descending also from FIVB President Jizhong Wei – who insisted in dedicating more attention to the clubs along with the national teams – an annual competition, named Euro Volley Cup 2010 Boys Under 18 Championship and addressed to the clubs having claimed their respective national leagues in the U18 division, has been recently conceived and established in Italy.
    The competition will run through next September 16-19, 2010. The local organizer, i.e. the club Materdomini Volley based in Castellana Grotte which is currently focusing solely on youth Volleyball and ended the last U18 national league in third place, together with the Italian Volleyball Federation did set up a tournament that will feature a total of 12 teams, including two Italian clubs, i.e. Lube Banca Marche MACERATA and Materdomini itself. With the competition being conceived for the U18 age group, still every team will be allowed to line-up a maximum of two players born in 1991. Three venues have been identified (namely Castellana Grotte, Alberobello, Sammichele), all of them located in the southern region of Apulia, with the local institutions having already prepared an ad-hoc cultural and leisure program for the players and their coaching staff.

  • The Drawing of Lots for the inaugural EuroVolley Cup – U18 Boys’ Championship which is set to run in the region of Apulia through September 16-19 was held this past Friday at the premises of the organizing club, Materdomini Volley. A total of 9 teams will line-up for this competition whose format and formula stand definitely out as this is the very first time in history that an international competition is being organized for U18 Volleyball clubs.
    The 9 participating teams have been divided into 3 preliminary groups as follows:


    Pool A: ATC Trencin Cop (SVK), Trentino Volley (ITA), S. Lisboa & Benfica (POR)
    Pool B: Arkas Sports Club (TUR), Lube Banca Marche Macerata (ITA), Delic-Pol Norwind Czestochowa (POL)
    Pool C: Newcastle Staff VC (ENG), Materdomini Volley (ITA), Tirana U18 Team (ALB)


    Additional information, including the right tips for those who would like to combine their attendance to this Volleyball tournament with a visit to the many beauties of Apulia, is available at http://www.eurovolleycup.eu as well as in the Official Bulletin.


    The matches of the EuroVolley Cup will be broadcast on AbChannel; a delayed streaming will be available at http://www.eurovolleycup.eu and http://www.abchannel.it

  • Teams from Turkey and Poland to vie for gold at inaugural EuroVolley Cup
    Castellana Grotte, Italy, September 18, 2010. The final game of the inaugural EuroVolley Cup scheduled for Sunday at 11 am in Castellana Grotte will be starring Turkey’s Arkas Sports and Delic-Pol Norwind Czestochowa of Poland.
    This morning the guys from Turkey quite surprisingly cruised past pre-favorite ATC Trencin Cop of Slovakia 3:1 (25-17, 16-25, 25-18, 25-23) and then clipped the ticket for the final match after an extremely tight game with Lube Banca Marche Macerata that ended in four close sets (25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 28-26). The Italians round up the standings of the Pool played in Sammichele as they suffered another upset with Trencin (3:1, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 25-8 ).
    In Alberobello, venue of the second Pool, the hosts of Materdomini Volley.it did open their quest for a spot in the final with an all-Italian derby where they finally defeated Trentino Volley 3:1 (25-23, 25-15, 22-25, 25-20), losing there the very first set since the beginning of the tournament. Looking for redemption, the ultimate hopes of Trentino crashed against the Poles of Delic-Pol Norwind who stamped a perfect 3:0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-20) to have a shot at the final in the deciding game against the hosts of Materdomini. The local heroes felt some pressure as they played in front of their fans and ultimately Czestochowa inched past 3:1 (25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18 ) to vie for the title.
    The Albanians from Tirana stamped a convincing 3:0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-21) against England’s U18 national champion Newcastle and even though they lost 1:3 to the Portuguese of Benfica Lisboa still they claimed rank 7 since the final standings take into account the results of all matches previously played in the tournament.
    The inaugural EuroVolley Cup – which is being organized with the support of CEV as well as of the Italian Volleyball Federation (FIPAV) - will come to a close on Sunday with the final game and all remaining classification matches. An Italian derby starring Macerata and Trento will allocate rank 5 and 6 whereas the hosts of Materdomini will certainly play with all their hearts against Trencin to claim the bronze medal and finish their home campaign on a high note.
    CEV

  • Polish team claims inaugural EuroVolley Cup
    Poland’s Delic Pol Norwind Czestochowa claimed the inaugural EuroVolley Cup in front of a full house in Castellana Grotte after defeating 3:1 the Turks of Arkas Sports (23-25, 25-18, 25-13, 25-20). The guys from Poland definitely deserved the crown as they maintained a perfect record through the four-day tournament held across three venues in the region of Apulia. Middle blocker Michal Kaczynski (200 cm tall) and libero Kolodziej were certainly the main actors who massively contributed to the Polish victory in this international premiere for U18 clubs.
    However, the final game was not a walkover for the Poles: Arkas Sports did indeed clip the opening set 25-23 with some great play of opposite Ufuk Minici, a member of Turkey’s junior national team that recently competed at the final round of the CEV Junior European Championship in Belarus. The guys of coach Sikorski found the right momentum in set nr 2 and especially nr 3, where the Turks could bring home only 13 points, before Maruszczyk stamped the final 25-20.
    The hosts of Materdomini Volley.it could not complete their home campaign with a medal as they lost the classification match 3/4 to the Slovaks of ATC Trencin Cop. They even missed a match ball in the third set after having bagged set 1 and 2 (25-23, 25-20), before they totally collapsed physically and mentally to leave the way open to the Slovaks whose performance in blocking was really remarkable (24 in total).
    An all-Italian derby was likely to assign rank 5 and 6 and there Trentino Volley cruised past U18 national champion Lube Banca Marche Macerata in four sets to complete the standings of the tournament.


    Final match
    Arkas Sports (TUR) vs. Delic Pol Norwind Czestochowa (POL) 1:3 (25-23, 18-25, 13-25, 20-25)


    Bronze medal match
    Materdomini Volley.it (ITA) vs. ATC Trencin Cop (SVK) 2:3 (25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 26-28, 7-15)


    Classification match 5/6
    Lube Banca Marche Macerata (ITA) vs. Trentino Volley (ITA) 1:3 (22-25, 28-26, 14-25, 25-27)


    Final standings
    1. Delic Pol Norwind Czestochowa (POL)
    2. Arkas Sports Club (TUR)
    3. ATC Trencin Cop (SVK)
    4. Materdomini Volley.it Castellana Grotte (ITA)
    5. Trentino Volley (ITA)
    6. Lube Banca Marche Macerata (ITA)
    7. Tirana Under 18 (ALB)
    8. Newcastle Staff (ENG)
    9. Benfica (POR)


    Individual Awards
    MVP: Michal Kaczynski (Delic Pol Norwind)
    Best Setter: Davide Pellegrino (Materdomini Volley.it)
    Best Middle Blocker: Karol Kupisz (Delic Pol Norwind)
    Best Receiver: Milan Lizala (ATC Trencin Cop)
    Best Spiker: Ufuk Minici (Arkas Sports)
    Best Young Player: Simon Krajcovic (ATC Trencin Cop, born 1996)