Luxembourg, October 31, 2018. Three tickets to the 3rd Round of the 2019 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Women will be at stake on Wednesday night with Germany’s Allianz MTV STUTTGART, France’s ASPTT MULHOUSE VB and Poland’s Budowlani ŁÓDŹ all hoping to capitalise on the away victories they claimed last week. These teams need to take at least two sets from their respective fixtures with opponents from the Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary to secure their progression to Round 3 of Europe’s elite club competition. Follow the CEV social media channels for regular updates under the official hashtag #CLVolleyW!
Outside spiker Sarah Wilhite, as the last player joining the STUTTGART team after the FIVB World Championships where she represented USA will make her first appearance with the German team.
For STUTTGART, this is the first home match of the 2018/2019 season, where they are aiming for the maximum result in a total of three different competitions: CEV Champions League, national league (after four silver medals in a row) and national cup.
Just three days later, STUTTGART will be hosting DRESDNER SC in the Round of the 16 in the national cup competition.
For five players it is the first home match to meet the unbelievably powerful crowd of Stuttgart: Roosa Koskelo (libero), Krystal Rivers (opposite), Jana-Franziska Poll (outside spiker), Madison Bugg (Setter) and Sarah Wilhite (outside spiker).
With Flore Gravesteijn, the Stuttgart-fans are very happy to welcome a former player of their favourite team back in the SCHARRena. The outside spiker was part of the German team when they won their first title ever, the national cup in 2011. Flore spent two seasons in Stuttgart (2010/2011, 2011/2012) before joining VDK GENT Dames with whom she won the Belgian national league in 2013. After that, she played in France and Italy and is now back in Sliedrecht, where she played prior to her time in Stuttgart.
Kim Renkema, Sports Director of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “In our away game in Sliedrecht we saw many good things but also some other things that we have to work on. I hope we can show a more balanced game. I am happy that it will be the first game where we are complete as a team. This will be a very important match just before our so important weekend. I expect that the opponent will be fighting for every point with much determination. They are young and willing to fight. We have to show our best game in order to beat this team, to go into next round, to show our fans what they are coming for and to prepare in the best way for our important match in the national cup competition just three days later. I cannot wait that the doors of SCHARRena open again for a new season. It is finally game time!”
Ioannis Athanasopoulos, head coach of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “I expect my team will be showing the same concentration we had in Sliedrecht so that we fight for every ball, try to improve our game and become better as a team with each match. I think that we have to be very careful, because SLIEDRECHT is a very good team and they will come to Stuttgart to fight. It will be our first game with a full team and we are looking forward to it. It has been a long time since the end of April and everybody in the team wants to feel the positive vibes of the SCHARRena and its unique fans again.”
Vera Koenen, head coach of SLIEDRECHT Sport: “We are looking forward to the match in Stuttgart and we will fight again against this top team, which enables us to further develop the level of our own game.”
Ana Rekar, setter of SLIEDRECHT Sport: “We are really looking forward to the great ambiance in the SCHARRrena. We loved playing against STUTTGART the first time, so let us hope for an even better second match. I cannot wait to fight again!”
Live-Stream bei unserem Champions League Streaming-Partner SWR-Sport ab 19.00 Uhr
Tickets für das CEV Rückspiel
