Switzerland’s Lindaren Volley Amriswil were the surprise winners of the last first-round pool in the men’s CEV Champions League Volley and advanced to the second round of the strongest club competition in Europe. Earlier this week, Italy’s Savino Del Bene Scandicci booked the first of three remaining pool stage vacancies in the women’s Champions League. • Lindaren Volley Amriswil upset pool pre-favourites Greenyard Maaseik to advance to matches against Dinamo Moscow and Trentino Itas.• Savino Del Bene Scandicci delivered two shutouts of Khimik Yuzhny at home.• LKS Commercecon Lodz took a solid advantage over Calcit Volley Kamnik.Champions League - MenAustrian opposite Thomas Zass was merciless as Lindaren took on their two opponents in Pool E in Switzerland. The home team emerged victorious from a rollercoaster match against Belarus’s Shakhtior Soligorsk with Zass scoring 21 times towards a 3-2 (25-22, 25-18, 13-25, 16-25, 15-8) win.In the deciding match for the top of the pool standings on Thursday evening, the Swiss squad delivered a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-16, 25-20) upset of Champions League regulars and pre-tournament favourites Greenyard Maaseik of Belgium who had surprisingly lost to Shakhtior in five sets on the previous day as well. Zass tallied 22 successful spikes to become the best scorer of the match.Lindaren will play hosts to their second-round pool, with two major contenders, Russia’s Dinamo Moscow and Italy’s Trentino Itas, arriving in Amriswil for the round-robin tournament from October 27 through 29. The eventual pool winner will advance to the main stage of the Champions League.Champions League - WomenThe first of three second-round clashes for the three available spots in the pool stage of the women’s Champions League was completed on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week with Savino Del Bene Scandicci hosting both fixtures with Ukraine’s Khimik Yuzhny in Italy. The home side clearly dominated the two matches with Polish international Magdalena Stysiak leading the scorers in both. She put away 16 points (including two aces and one block) towards a 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, 25-12) victory on the first competition night and another 18 (three aces, one block) towards a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-11) win on the second.“We are really happy because getting to the pool stage was our goal. We gained confidence set after set and game after game. We can't wait to start the matches in the pool,” said Savino Del Bene’s captain and setter Ofelia Malinov.Savino Del Bene advanced to Pool A of the main stage where they will take on compatriots Unet e-work Busto Arsizio, Poland’s Developres SkyRes Rzeszow and Germany’s SSC Palmberg Schwerin.In another second-round duel, Poland’s LKS Commercecon Lodz took a solid advantage over Slovenia’s Calcit Volley Kamnik winning the first-leg game convincingly by 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-17) at home. 21-year-old Serbian outside Katarina Lazovic fired six serving aces towards a total of 15 points, which made her the best scorer of the match. The away game in Kamnik will take place on October 14.The matches of the third race for a spot in the pool stage, between Russia’s Dinamo Moscow and Germany’s Allianz MTV Stuttgart, have yet to be scheduled.Watch all Champions League games live on
EuroVolley TV. For detailed results and more information, visit the
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