Shukran: Rabita Baku enters Champions League in style

Azerbaijani champions Rabita Baku defeated Romanian Dinamo Romprest, 3-0, in the opening match of the CEV Champions League on Wednesday afternoon.

In the first set, Rabita trailed early, but went on a 9-2 run to build a 16:10 advantage. Dinamo tried to climb back, but the guest team stayed ahead and maintained the lead to finish the set 25:18.

In the second set, Romanians went up 8:2, and were up 16:11 by the time of the second technical timeout. From that point onward, however, it was Rabita only. Azerbaijani team led by Glass and Ativi duo steadily closed the gap and eventually took the set 25:22.

Dinamo again started the third set aggressively and were up for the most part of it, and yet again couldn't hold on to the lead and Rabita ended the match with a 25:20 victory.

Kimberly Glass paced Rabita's offense with a team-best 10 kills to go along with 3 aces and 2 block points. Natalya Mammadova connected for nine kills, while middle blocker Natasa Krsmanovic chipped in five kills and three blocks.

Alida Marcovici, Dinamo captain

"It was a very hard game for us, we had a good chance in the second set but our opponents were better than us in the key moments. They deserved the victory."

Atanas Petrov, Dinamo head coach

"We had a good start in every set, but our reception was shaky, maybe in the next match there will be more chances for us."

In the second match in the group, Italian Scavolini Pesaro defeated Polish Aluprof Bielsko-Biala 3:2 (23:25, 25:22, 25:20, 19:25, 15:12).

To watch the full match:
http://www.laola1.tv/en/rs/volleyball/cev/dinamo-romprest-bucharest-rabita-baku/video/242-1351-38074.html