Larvik a class of their own

As Larvik remains absolute dominant in Group C after beating Vâlcea in a clear way and are ahead four points of all opponents, the Groups B and D are completely open again after Hypo NÖ and Toulon have taken their first victories.

Group B:

HC Leipzig – Hypo Niederösterreich 23:28 (12:15)

Everything’s open again in this group, as Leipzig missed the great chance to increase the base for the Main Round and Hypo took their first victory in this season. The key to win for the Austrians was Gabriela Rotis-Nagy, who scored outstanding twelve goals. Leipzig played much weaker than before and Hypo totally improved in contrast to their opening matches. 3000 spectators saw a Hypo team absolutely willing to win. Rotis scored six times in the first half and led her team to a clear intermediate result of 14:8, before Leipzig tried hard to turn the game. They were close to at the score of 14:15, but then too many mistakes occured. With two players more on the field, Hypo decided the game at the score of 26:22. HCL top scorer was Louise Lyksborg with five goals.  

Group C:

Larvik HK – Oltchim Vâlcea 34:31 (17:18)

Norwegians make their way, Romanians lose their second match – Larvik HK is going straight to the Main Round after beating Vâlcea in the ehfTV.com top game of the week after a thrilling second half. Nora Mørk was Larvik’s top scorer with nine goals in this high-class game. The Norwegians are now four points ahead of Vâlcea. Larvik opened the game clearly stronger and had last year's CL-finalists on the knees in the first 20 minutes. Tine Stange and line player Heidi Løke imprinted this period which brought LHK a quite comfortable 13:8 lead. But then Vâlcea had their best time in the match, scored five times in a row and led at the break. In the second half Oltchim had enormous problems to go through the Norwegian ”wall”. It took only 20 minutes for the home team to be completely on the winner’s way thanks to their defence and counter attacks – the result in minute 50 was 31:24, especially thanks to the goals of Nora Mørk. Vâlcea could reduce the gap, but wasn’t able to turn the page. Top scorer for the Romanians was Ramona Petruta Farcau with 7 goals.

Randers HK - Toulon Saint Cyr Var 25:29 (12:16)

By losing against the French champion Randers lost the great base they had built with the starting victory against Vâlcea. Now the Danes, Toulon and Oltchim have two points on their account. The ELRO Arena was full with spectators, expecting the second victory on home ground – but the team failed against the strong French champion right from the start. Only German international Nina Wörz was able to break through the Toulon defence, as the French played tactically clever and efficient in attack. The powerful play of Paula Gondo and the light-hearted Congolese Christiane Mwasesa shook the Randers defence minute-by-minute. Toulon led 16:10, before Randers reduced the gap a little until the break. The host then showed their real strength and Dalby and Wörz were the key factors for the intermediate equalizer at the score of 24:24 seven minutes before the end. It looked like the decisive turning point, but then Toulon scored twice and Randers couldn’t catch up anymore. Top scorers were Wörz (6 for Randers) and Mwasesa (9 four Toulon).

Group D:

Krim Ljubljana – Györi Audi ETO 30:34 (14:19)

After two starting victories Krim was defeated for the first time in this CL season – and Györ is equal in points with the Slovenians after their second straight victory. The game was imprinted by the shooter’s duel of Lekic (Krim) and Görbicz (Györ) – which ended with a tie, as both players each scored ten times. Györ led in the whole 60 minutes – a result of the strong 9:4 starting phase. Even when Krim caught up to 8:9 the Hungarians remained dominant and increased the lead again to five goals at the break. Thanks to the saves of goalkeeper Lunde-Haraldsen Györ pre-decided the game at the score of 27:20, even as Krim improved and reduced the distance to 28:31 in minute 58. But the catch-up chase came too late for the host.