- After losing 3-0 in the first leg, Neuchâtel UC also had to admit defeat against Chieri ’76 in the final second leg of the CEV Cup.
- After the second set, the title win was already certain for the superior Italians.
- In the end, NUC comes up short with 9:25, 20:25, 25:20, 13:25.
Although the Neuchâtel women suffered a 3-0 defeat at home a week ago, NUC was able to keep up well with the favorite Chieri in two of the three rounds. That wasn’t the case in the second leg. From the first rally onwards, the Italians left nothing to chance and took control of the game into their own hands very early on. In the first set, which lasted just 15 minutes, Chieri only left Neuchâtel UC with 9 points.
Chieri closes the bag as soon as possible
The Swiss were then able to improve on their weak performance in the opening set. However, it wasn’t enough to get Chieri into serious trouble. Until the score was 10:12, NUC remained within striking distance of the Italians in the second round, but after that Chieri pulled ahead with 4 points in a row to make it 16:10.
Legend:
A wasted evening
No getting past Neuchâtel’s Tiata Scambray.
Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott
After almost 40 minutes of play, Chieri won the first set points in the second round. NUC shortened the score from 17:24 to 20:24, but the hosts used the 4th set point to take a 2-0 lead. This was synonymous with winning the title, as after the 0:3 a week ago, the Neuchâtel women would have had to win either 3:0 or 3:1 in the second leg in order to force a “golden set”.
A set win as a consolation
In the euphoria of winning the title, Chieri downshifted at least a gear in the third round. This allowed NUC to get into the game better. Guests from French-speaking Switzerland took advantage of this opportunity to win the only set in this final encounter.
But the Swiss team wasn’t able to do more than just this flash in the pan. The Italians made short work of the fourth round and won it without any discussion with 25:13.