The competition in the Champions League has only just begun, but the players of Project Warszawa, after two rounds in the group stage, are starting to block their way to the quarter-finals of these European competitions. Two weeks ago in Moscow, the team from Warsaw missed their 2-0 lead with Dynamo and lost after the tie-break, and on Wednesday they lost points in series at Torwar and lost to Ziraat Bankasi Ankara 1: 3.
In PlusLiga, the trademark of Projekt Warszawa is a sensational block, but in the cup match against the Turkish team, the rivals reacted more vigilantly in this element, especially at decisive moments. The biggest problem of Andrea Anastasi’s volleyball players was the poor reception of the service and losing points in series. In the third set, Projekt was leading 13:12, but lost the game by seven points. In the fourth installment, the pressure on the service was exerted by the rivals in the middle, Piotr Nowakowski, but the opening of the set with a result of 4: 1 did not give the hosts much, because the ending belonged to Roberto Santilli’s team. The project did not lose points from its rivals from Turkey and lost 1: 3, which means a drop to the third place in the group table and counting on stumbling among the strongest rivals in subsequent matches, if the Project’s volleyball players hope to be in the quarter-final eight. Thus, Warsaw players have the worst balance among the three teams competing in the Champions League, because the teams from Kędzierzyn-Koźle and Jastrzębie-Zdrój have not lost in the cups yet.
PROJEKT WARSZAWA – ZIRAAT BANK ANKARA 1:3 (21:25, 25:21, 18:25, 21:25)
PROJECT: Trinidad de Haro, Grobelny, Nowakowski, Superlak, Kwolek, Wrona and Wojtaszek (l), Blankenau, Petković. Coach: Anastasi.
ZIRAAT BANK: Minus, Atanasov, Sun, Ter Maat, Tuinstra, Bulbul oraz Bayraktar (l), Ertugrul, Yucel, Camejo Durruthy. Trener: Santilli.
The judges were: Stoica (Romania), Goncalves (Portugal). Spectators: 1,200.
Team ZP Pkt Sets
1. Ziraat Bank 1-1 6 6:1
2. Dynamo Moscow 2-0 5 6: 2
3. Project Warsaw 0-2 1 3: 6
4. VC Greenyard Maaseik 0-2 0 0: 6
The winners of five groups and the three teams with the best balance sheet from second places will be promoted to the quarter-finals.
–
