Club World Cup, Milan flies to semifinals
Milan in semifinals
Numia Vero Volley Milan redeemed itself and in the third match of Pool A of the Club World Cup overcame the Egyptian team of Zamalek Sporting Club with a clear 3-0 victory. The match was decisive for access to the semifinals of the event with coach Lavarini’s team, which, in order to qualify, did not have to allow its opponents to score more than 49 points: mission è accomplished.
Numia Vero Volley did not take long to take the lead in the first fraction, opened with a 9-0 partial, and, then, continued in progression (14-4, 21-7 and 25-9) for a set that was never in question. The second fraction also travels on the same tracks as the previous one, with several changes by Milan: 7-1, 14-4, 20-11 and 25-13. The third set saw Zamalek try to get off to a strong start (1-4), but è a reaction that did not last: Numia overtook before 10 (9-8) and did not stop anymore; (18-8, 22-12 and 25-18).
To know the opponent of its next match, however, Milan will have to wait for the challenges that will determine the first place and second place in Pool A and the ranking of Group B, but the adventure of captain Orro and companions at the World Club Championship continues as protagonists: with two victories in three matches, Numia and Consorzio Vero Volley are, however, among the top four teams in the world!
The scoreboard at the end of the match reads 13 points for Cazaute, top-scorer of the match, with 50% in attack, 4 walls for Kurtagic and 3 for Heyrman.
Coach Lavarini approached the challenge with a revised sextet: Konstantinidou on the dribble with Egonu opposite, Sylla and Cazaute on the band, Kurtagic and Heyrman in the middle, along with Gelin as libero.
Ready, start… go, and the first point è signed by Sylla: 1-0. A few more balls, and è 6-0 with Kurtagic’s wall, Egonu’s tight attack, Sylla’s again and a couple of opponents’ errors. A time-out immediately comes for the Egonu bench. Two more walls by Kurtagic and è 9-0. Mamdouh scores the first point for Zamalek, but Egonu without a wall brings the lead back to +9: 10-1. It’ again Kurtagic to score a “double”, this time from the nine-meter line, for 14-4 worth +10. The new maximum lead came at +12 (18-6), with the second break called by coach Fathy. On 21-7 the first set è practically already closed. The’last point, with a service error by the Egyptians, comes at 25-9 after 18 minutes from the start of the match.
Second set: Daalderop and Marinova come in, for Sylla and Egonu, and they put down two of Milan’s first three points (3-1). At 7-1, Zamalek è in confusion and disorder, and tries to regain some clarity with a time-out. The +10 comes again on 14-4, and quickly becomes +11 (16-5) with Marinova and Heyrman: è the turn also of Pietrini and Guidi. On 20-11 comes the second interruption of the game by the African bench, but Milan responds by stretching further: on 24-12 comes the first set point, for a fraction that closes 25-13 on an attack by Marinova that finds the high hands of the wall to, then, go out.
In the third set comes the first lead for Zamalek (0-1), which, then, becomes 1-4. Numia reacts and responds, finding parity again (4-4), before going further (9-8) and stretching with a break: 10-8 (time-out for the Egyptian women). The Cairo lineup tries to “turn” the situation even with several changes, but an important partial “splits” the set and brings Vero Volleyball back out wide: 18-8 (+10). Cazaute’s 13th individual point brings Milan even closer to the conclusion of the challenge (22-12). On 24-16 only the balls are missing for statistics and to put the word “end” in less than an’hour (59 minutes) to the match: the match closes Marinova, at the third attempt, and è 25-18 for Numia Vero Volley Milano.
The Egyptian opponent certainly didn’t prove to be one to make “trembling wrists”, but Numia Vero Volley Milanoè mission accomplished: victory, qualification to the semifinals… waiting to know, tomorrow, who will be the rival to challenge in order to seek access to the “final” of the Hangzhou Club World Cup.
