Marlon Yant

Havana, January 26 (RHC) - With an outstanding performance by Cuban Marlon Yant, the Lube Civitanova defeated Knack Roeselare of Belgium 3-2, in a Champions League volleyball match.

The several times world club champion and several times Italian champion came back from 1-2 in a match played at the Foro Eurosuole, to consolidate its position as first of group C with 6 wins without defeats and 16 points. In the quarter-finals they will face Turkey's Halkbank Ankara.

Yant was the top scorer of the match (30 points, one ace, one block and 68 percent efficiency in the attack) and the Most Valuable Player (MVP).

"We are putting more intensity and sacrifice without ever giving up in the face of difficulties to keep looking forward," the 21-year-old attacker, born 21 years ago in Villa Clara (central Cuba), told Italian television.

He considered the match as "very difficult against an opponent that has created difficulties", but stressed that the important thing was to achieve the victory and continue preparing for the Superliga. "We are all working hard to win and now we are looking ahead to Sunday's Superliga match against Verona," he said.

Italian teams have been dominating the group stage, with all three teams, Perugia, Lube Civitanova and Trentino, qualifying directly to the quarterfinals as group winners. The full list of teams qualifying directly for the quarterfinals are Halkbank Ankara from Turkey and Jastrzebski Wegiel from Poland.

From now on, all matches will be played in a local-visitor system to decide the advancing teams.

The same day saw the starting debut of another Cuban, Julio César Cárdenas, who scored 14 points in the 29th consecutive victory of the reigning world club champion Perugia against SWD powervolleys Duren of Germany 3-1.

For Perugia, which finished undefeated leader in group D with 6 wins and 18 points, Polish nationalized Cuban Wilfredo León was rested and Cuban left-handed player Jesús Herrera hardly played.

Another Cuban who stood out in the Champions League was star player Robertlandy Simón, who scored 12 points in Piacenza's 3-1 victory over Arcada Galati of Romania. In the same match, Cubans Roamy Alonso and Yoandy Leal scored 2 units each.