The first match between Akaa-Volley and Projekt Warszawa for CEV Challenge Cup finals was dominated by the latter one. Polish team took the strong grap of the win of the semifinals by beating the home team by 0 – 3 (18-25, 20-25, 14-25).
When a volleyball team’s statistics shows in theree sets: total points 54/+42, serves 4 errors and 4 aces, attacks 75 % (only 1 error), blocks 9, … it seldom loses the match! Projekt Warszawa was this strong in Akaa Areena in front of 1616 spectators, which is the new record in this hall. Pretty nice atmosphere!
Akaa-Volley lost mainly because of the weaker performance in block and defence. Even if in the home arena, the team’s serving was not on the level than expected; 13 errors in three sets is too much. Naturally one can not serve too soft in the match against one of the best teams in Europe. But 13 straight points into the opponent’s column is too much.
The statistics of Projekt Warszawa: Boladz 17/+15, Szalpuk 12/+8, Wrona 8/+7, Tillie 8/+6, Semeniuk 6/+5
And the same of Akaa-Volley: Smidl 20/+7, Heiskanen 10/+7, Tyynismaa 6/+1, Ivanov 4/+2, Taponen 2/+1, Pozo-Hernandez 3/-, Räsänen 1/-2
The two teams will meet again in Warsaw on Wednesday the 7th February. Akaa-Volley has some chances still but it needs much better defence to make them real. It should win the second match by 3-0 or 3-1 and the so called golden set above that.
Projekt Warszawa had this cheerful fan club supporting the team. Well done!