This playoff is intense. Now all four groups are 2:1.
Perugia actually played well with smooth transition when Leon's not on court.
Perugia needs to find a balance of with or without Leon.
CL semi will be tough for Perugia.
Zaksa has great serves and defenses, and they're mentally tough than Perugia.
If Zakas can win CL this year, they will repeat the achievement like Trentino (3 in a row) and Kazan (4 in a row) did years ago.
Fenerbahce's roster is pretty competitive this season.
Vargas is 24-years-old, but Fedorovtseva and Cristina are even younger, only 19-years-old and talented.
Conegliano simply has no answer to Cristina's attack.
78%, I can not recall when I saw such a scary Exc.% from an OH in a long time.
Congrats to Fenerbahce for advancing to CL semi.
It looks like two teams are not in the same level by the performance on set #2.
I thought Balaso was a rising star three years ago, and he'll get close to Colaci's level as NT's new libero. Can not imagine he flopped so fast, considering his age.
It will be disappointing for Piacenza if they got eliminated in 1/4, considering how much money they spent this season. They copied half team of old Lube, with Lucarelli, Leal and Simon.
Milano 3:2 Perugia
Milano were lucky to take set #1 with two lucky key points. Overall, Milano had a great game. If Perugia can not deliver their power serves, they can be defeated. Giannelli passing to the middle and then MB getting blocked was a turning point at set #5. Giannelli did not make a good choice of passing at clutch time, not the first time. But it's too bad Anastasi had not guts to put Ropret on court for a change.
Madi from Thy hás been playing só good. Best OH from USA this season imo.
Scandicci is só strong on paper but barely Won against this THY without Naz and KVR.
Scandicci's setter is a weak point. Both Di Iulio and Yao are not solid.
If Scandicci have a class A setter, they'll be very competitive.
Belien's defense is also a loophole. She missed a few easy digs when she's on the back row.
Di Iulio's serves crushed THY.
Scandicci advanced to CEV cup final.
Polen is too old to play at such a level. She's pretty good when she's with Fenerbahce a few years ago.
The problem for Scandicci is: both Di Iulio and Yao are not stable.
They pass a few good balls, then have a few horrible passes in a row.
Both teams played bad in set #3, but THY won it with some luck.
Belien missed a key spike at pos 2 was the turning point.
Zhu's power spike is not as strong as years before, but she's still smart.
Zhu scored a few times by hitting the ball to pos 1, which is hard for THY's dig.
Let's see if THY can force this game to the golden set.
Kudos to Kaziyski. 53 attacks from a 39-year-old OH.
It’d be a very hard lesson for the young libero of Trentino. It was also his error in the previous point when Kaziyski was blocked but no one covered at position 5, that whole area should be covered by the libero but was completely empty.
On the other side, Shoji was way much better than him.
That made a big difference.
The referee needs to get eyesight checked.
That's an obvious ball holding from Zaksa's setter. How come the referee missed calling it out?
Anyway, Zaksa played better than Trentino in golden set. Their defense and block were amazing.
Perugia will have a tough game against Zaksa in semi.
my goodness. this reception error from Trentino could be fatal
Trentino 8:5 Zaksa
Looks like the golden set is coming.
Who's this commentator? His voice is off-putting. Sounds like a hoarse duck...
home game, red card...
Lisnac needs to calm down
When CEV will lift the ban for Russian teams?
Players are innocent, and they should not be punished due to the war. It's been 2 years.
Now CEV is getting boring with all Russian teams being excluded.
Zaytsev had a solid performance, but the OHs’ performance was very inconsistent. That error at 12-12 from Yant killed Lube’s last chance to advance
The MB’s attack hasn’t been reliable at crucial time since Simon left
Since Juan and Simon left Lube this season, Lube is not as strong as before. Garcia and Yant are not stable, and Yant's reception is on and off from time to time. Zaytsev played well today, but I don't think he can continue playing on this level, considering his age.
Now the semi will be:
Perugia vs. Trentino/Zaksa
Ankara vs. JW
Perugia will test mental toughness in semi. They have a history of collapse in crucial games. Trentino and Zaksa are tough competitors. Ankara have a good chance to advance to final.
Congrats to Ankara. Zaytsev almost carried Lube to semi with his amazing performance, but Yant's key error wasted the chance. Nimir's last a few points are solid and crucial.
