The underdogs of Pool A in the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women finished their splendid crusade with an unexpected home triumph. Agel PROSTEJOV performed extremely well also in their last match of the prelims and edged 2014 gold medallists Dinamo KAZAN 3:1 (25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 25-17). That means the Czechs took third place in the standings and secured a sensational spot in the Playoffs 12 of Europe’s finest competition leaving behind one of the hottest favourites for the final crown, Azerbaijan’s Rabita BAKU.

The hosts were lucky to catch a terrific start and they stayed in great form throughout the first two sets playing beyond the limits of their possibilities. After that the visitors, who had not shown anything special yet, finally found their game and easily took control of set 3 and also started very well at the beginning of set 4. However, at 3:6 the Czech champions began to claw back and managed to turn the score around going to a fantastic 11:6. The home squad was back on track radiating with joy. Then the enthusiastic Agel’s players did not get off the wave of victory anymore and their play remained brilliant until the very end.  This win made the Czechs incredibly happy and, on the other hand, it was very bad news for Rabita BAKU.

“We wanted to show our best in this match and make it to the Challenge Round of the 2015 CEV Volleyball Cup. We were also aware of our very good performance from last week against Chemik POLICE. We knew we were in great form and that we could rely on our game. Tonight we did better in serving. On the other hand, the opponents were very strong in blocking. We also did very well in defence and, due to our all-round performance, we achieved this great victory and advanced to the Playoffs, and we are of course very happy about it,” says Miroslav Cada, the head coach of Agel PROSTEJOV.

“We had a strong opponent in front of us tonight, so we knew that the match would be very tough. But we prepared very well, we worked extremely hard and we played beautiful Volleyball. The key to our success was in serving tonight as well as in our team spirit, our teamwork is great and we always help each other. This win has a really big value,” says Liannes Castaneda Simon (pictured), the Cuban-born opposite of Agel PROSTEJOV.

“This match was very important for our opponents. On the other hand, we knew there was nothing to achieve for us for the final standings of the pool. That is probably the reason why the hosts delivered a very good performance and why we lacked concentration and why our communication was bad. The result was logical after what we had seen on both sides, so I have to congratulate PROSTEJOV on their win and their spot in the Playoffs,” says Dzianis Matsveyeu, the assistant coach of Dinamo KAZAN.

“We knew the news from Baku and that we were guaranteed the second place in the standings regardless of tonight’s result. That is the reason why our motivation was low, our concentration was bad and why our play was not good. On the other hand, Agel’s game was excellent, they played great Volleyball and deserved to win,” admits Antonella Del Core, the Italian-born wing-spiker of Dinamo KAZAN.