In the second leg of the European Volleyball Confederation CEV Cup semi-finals, Chieri (Italy), coached by Hayashi Kento, played against Paris (France) on Wednesday, February 28th local time, and won 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-23).
First set starting lineup
Kieri
OH: Skinner (USA), Omoruyi (Italy)
MB: Gray (Italy), Weitzel (Germany)
OP: Globerna (Belgium)
S: Marinov (Italy)
L: Spirito (Italy)
Paris
OH: Palgutova (Slovakia), Kecman (Serbia)
MB: Sater (USA), Herrera (Argentina)
OP: Cunho (Argentina)
S: Alanko (Finland)
L: Gelin (France)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
MVP: OP Kaya Groberna (Belgium)
16 points (including 1 block), attack efficiency rate 321 TP 3T
With this result, Chieri advanced to the CEV Cup final.
The first leg of the final (away) will be against Neuchâtel (Switzerland) at 27:00 on Wednesday, March 13th, Japan time.
The next Italian league match will be against Scandicci on Sunday, March 3rd at 11:00pm Japan time.
Comments from Coach Kento Hayashi
This was my first visit to Paris, the host city of the 2024 Olympics, and I was excited to see the magnificent Palazetto (gymnasium) and beautiful cityscape.
The key was to control the opponent's outside and score a lot of points through counter attacks.
In the end, we were able to win in straight sets, but every set was tough and I think we played against a really great team.
The manager of Paris is an Italian rising star in his 30s. He is a strategist and has used a variety of tactics. Especially in terms of serving tactics, he thoroughly executed what Chieri did not want to be done, so one of the reasons for his struggles was that he was stuck in blocking and defending.
On the contrary, we were able to make our blocks work better than in the previous match, and as I mentioned earlier, we were able to connect them to counter attacks well, which was the key to not losing key games.
We have finally advanced to the finals and will fight to the end with all our fans so that Chieri can make new history. Please support us in Sunday's match against Scandicci!
Photo: Vittorio Avondo, CEV
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