ROMA Volley cruised to its first European title

Men's CEV Cup Final Four 2007/08

Rome, Italy, March 24, 2008. In the final encounter of the Men’s CEV Cup 2007/08 in Rome (ITA), ROMA Volley outclassed Noliko MAASEIK in straight sets. The Italians proved a number too strong for MAASEIK. In today’s first deciding duel, Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA (MNE) won the bronze medal, defeating Fakel NOVY URENGOI (RUS) 3:1.

The final clash tonight in Rome began in a cheerful atmosphere in front of more than 3’500 fans in a completely sold-out “Palatiziano”, with the teams looking calm for this most important moment of the Men’s CEV Cup 2007/08. However, this did not mean they were not focused on the job, especially in attacking. Leonel Marshall and Marco Molteni both got to work quickly, before Tom Schrijvers displayed his breathtaking power in blasting a fluid winner through the middle. Marshall again on the net moved the score forward in ROMA’s favor, 8-7 at the first technical timeout. Both teams having extraordinary power in all phases of the game, and they were slugging it out like two boxers as the scoreboard moved along rapidly. Luigi Mastrangelo used all his court expertise to outfox the Belgian reception with a precise serve and took the hosts to the second technical timeout with a three-point lead, 16-13. On the restart, MAASEIK mixed up its serves to keep the Italian defense on their toes, and Marshall sent it out of bounds to level at 16. When the Italian attack began to falter and the errors led from a 21-19 to a 21-23, ROMA lost their momentum. However, Molteni with powerful serves fired back, forcing MAASEIK head coach Vital Heynen to call his second timeout at 23-24. Allan Van de Loo sent it wide again and the first set was over in ROMA’s favor.

ROMA’s superstar Ivan Miljkovic quickly added some points on the Italian account early in the second set, forcing MAASEIK to react with some outstanding saves. But Marshall brought up a service winner to take an 8-5 lead at the first technical break. ROMA moved forward, and not even the wide awake Belgian Libero Bert Derkoningen could come close to digging another steeply angled spike from Molteni, who was launching a personal crusade to keep the power on ROMA’s side (17-11). A Van Decraen spike out of bounds took ROMA to 20-13 and then to 23-15. The Belgians lost ground, and Molteni again hammered one over to end it 25-18.

Sixteen errors in the first two sets obliged MAASEIK head coach Heynen to change tactics. He slightly modified his starting order with Gert Van Walle replacing Kay Van Dijk to take an 8-7 lead in the first technical timeout. But ROMA kept cool, when the Belgian players were learning some important lessons about efficiency. Coach Heynen took another timeout at 11-14, but it seemed to be too late. ROMA’s fighting spirit and the frenetic support from the domestic fans helped them to bounce in heaven, playing like winners, even when MAASEIK leveled the game at 17-17 and then at 19-19. Marshall on the net and Henno in defense led the hosts to a 23-22; and Miljkovic brought match point on the left. When a Belgian attack out of bounds ended it at 25-22 in ROMA’s favor, the “Palatiziano” detonated into cries of joy and happiness. For the just two years old team of ROMA the victory of the CEV Cup 2007/2008 is a first important step into a successful national and international career.

Vital Heynen, head coach Noliko MAASEIK: "All my compliments to ROMA, they played a great game. We should have won the first set to keep a chance to finish as winners. We learned a lot tonight; and to play in front of such a outstanding audience, that's just great. We would like to come back to Rome."

Roberto Serniotti, head coach ROMA Volley: "We addict this title to our president Massimo Mezzaroma who made this dream possible. To win in front of such a crowd is wonderful. We kept cool in the most important moments of the game, namely in the end of the first set. Compliments to my players, they did a great job tonight."

In the bronze medal match earlier today, URENGOI looked impressive from the start against BUDVA, with Roman Iakovlev, Dömötör Meszaros and Ilya Savelyev putting a lot of pressure on their opponent’s defense. The Russians thus experienced an easy-going phase until the second technical timeout, as the Boris Kolchins squad led 16-10. Even when the Montenegrins buckled down to pull back (21-22), the favourites from Russia tightened the hold on the game to carry off the first set 25-21.Inspired by the good start into the second period and with the support of some hundreds faithful supporters here in Rome, Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA found better into their game. Especially Krasimir Stefanov proved his excellent form, scoring both from the left and from the right. Captain Hamza Zatric led BUDVA to its first set ball at 24-19 with a missile from the left, and setter Simo Dabovic finished it with a careful one-hander behind the Russian block. The game balanced on a knife’s edge in the middle of the third set (14-14 to 18-18), when both BUDVA and URENGOI showed their best. Hristo Tsvetanov stepped up the pace for BUDVA and began to dominate the net (22-20 and 23-21), but Meszaros fired back (23-24). Zarko Ristoski finally closed it in BUDVA favor with a longline kill from the right. Three service rockets by Meszaros had the vociferous crowd on their feet and the Montenegrins rode that support to an early lead in the fourth set. Both teams were defending well, but the Montenegrins were prone to errors under the Russian onslaught (3-8). But Ristoski was far from finished and started again to scatter the Russian defense, giving his team a slight advantage at 20-18. Victor Gabriel Goncalves as well as Stefanov hammered BUDVA towards victory; and URENGOI seemed discouraging when the gap grew to three at 20-23. Even when the Russians fought back bravely (23-23 to 27-27), it was BUDVA to close the match with Ristoski from the left, securing Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA their best result in club history.

Josko Milenkoski, head coach Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA: “Of coure we are very happy; this is the best result ever for our club. We played with more determination than our opponents; and kept cool in the crucial moments of the game. I’m proud of my players, they did a great job tonight.” Boris Kolchins, head coach Fakel NOVY URENGOI: “The mix in our team is quite difficult this year, older and younger player experience some problems working together in a constructive way. Furthermore, our foreign players are not always playing on their best level; that makes it rather difficult to win.”

MVP: Manuel Coscione (ROMA)
Best Scorer: Krasimir Stefanov (BUDVA)
Best Spiker: Ivan Miljkovic (ROMA)
Best Receiver: Nicholas Cundy (MAASEIK)
Best Server: Luigi Mastrangelo (ROMA)
Best Blocker: Luigi Mastrangelo (ROMA)
Best Setter: Nuno Pinheiro (MAASEIK)

The European Cups final phase will conclude in Lodz (POL) from 29-30 March 2008 with the Final Four of the Men’s Indesit European Champions’ League, whilst the strongest women’s club teams will battle for the Indesit European Champions’ League 2007/08 title in Murcia (ESP) from 5-6 April 2008.

Picture Gallery

Men’s CEV Cup 2007/08
Final Four in Rome (ITA)
Results, Monday 24 March 2008 

1/2: ROMA Volley – Noliko MAASEIK	3:0	25-23, 25-18, 25-22
3/4: Fakel NOVY URENGOI – Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA	1:3	25-21, 19-25, 23-25, 27-29

Fakel NOVY URENGOI – ROMA Volley	0:3	17-15, 18-25, 22-25
Budvanska Rivijera BUDVA – Noliko MAASEIK	0:3	17-25, 19-25, 18-25

For further information on the Men's CEV Cup 2007/08 please click here.