In the first leg of the Confederation of European Volleyball (CEV) Challenge Cup quarterfinals, Monza, where Takahashi Ai plays, played against Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) on Tuesday, January 9th (local time) and won 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-13). Takahashi Ai did not participate.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Lepke (Canada), Marr (Canada)
MB: Galassi (Italy), Beretta (Italy)
OP: Mujanovic (Slovenia)
S: Visic (Croatia)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
Levski Sofia
OH: Toro (Argentina), Garkov (Bulgaria)
MB: Gotzev (Bulgaria), Moreira (Brazil)
OP: Titliski (Bulgaria)
S: Nikolov (Bulgaria)
L: Ivanov (Bulgaria)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, both players broke but the score remained close at 7-7. From there, Levski Sofia scored five consecutive points with a block from MB Moreira, widening the gap to 7-12. Monza then brought in S Kreling (Brazil). OH Lepki's spikes narrowed the gap to 13-16, but Levski Sofia maintained the lead until the middle of the set. However, OH Lepki's serve led to six consecutive breaks, including three service aces, and Monza turned the game around at 20-17. Monza maintained the lead from then on, and finally OH Marr's spike made it 25-22, giving Monza the first set.
In the second set, Levski Sofia took a 2-4 lead early on with spikes from OH Garkov. However, Monza broke four times in a row with a spike from OP Mujanovic off S Kreling's serve, and successfully turned the game around to 11-8. Monza then widened the gap to 14-10 with a service ace from OH Lepki. After that, Levski Sofia tied the score at 17-17 with a service ace from MB Moreira and a spike and block from OP Antov (Bulgaria), who came in as a substitute, and then turned the game around to 18-19 with a spike from OH Toro. Nevertheless, Monza turned the game around again with a block from OP Mujanovic to 20-19, and a block from MB Galassi put Monza at 24-22 and set point. Finally, MB Galassi spiked to take the set 25-23, and Monza took the set.
In the third set, Monza took a 6-1 lead early on with spikes and blocks from MB Beretta and a service ace from OH Lepki. Levski Sofia quickly closed the gap to 6-5 with blocks from MB Moreira, but Monza again widened the gap to 10-6 with spikes and a service ace from OP Mujanovic. Monza continued to break steadily, pulling away from Levski Sofia with blocks from S Kreling and 15-9, and attacks from OP Mujanovic at 18-11. In the final stages, Monza reached match point at 24-13 with spikes and blocks from OH Marr, and in the end, S Kreling made a block to win the set 25-13.
As a result, Monza won 3-0 against Levski Sofia.
Most points scored: OH Eric Lepke 17 points (10 attacks, 6 serves, 1 block) Attack efficiency rate 47.591 TP 3T
The second leg of the CEV Challenge Cup quarterfinals will be held at Monza home ground on Wednesday, January 17th at 26:00 Japan time. If Monza wins two or more sets in this match, they will advance to the semifinals.
CEV Challenge Cup Men:http://www.cev.eu/match-centres/2024-european-cups/cev-volleyball-challenge-cup-2024-men/
The next Italian league match will be against Modena on Sunday, January 14th at 12:45am Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Photo: CEV
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