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Uralochka won the first match convincingly, judging by the point-difference in sets and the total points difference. Uralochka were statistically better in all aspects of the game, but the numbers were not that different, except when it came to attack. I think the Romanian team should have done better since they possess both experience and potential to stun the favorites from Yekaterinburg. First and foremost, they have a lot of good quality international players and a budget of one million euros for this season. Coach Aksentijevic regularly gives all of his 12 players a chance on the court and some of them have already played European competitions (receivers Klaric and Kamenova, libero Vujovic, Esdelle, Bacsis, middle blockers Gavrilescu and Fales. All of them played for the top Romanian teams. There's Siljkovic from Serbia and Williams from USA as well. Setter Ana Tiem has a very important role on this team. She is a member of the Brazilian national team and can definitely help in blocking as well.

Uralochka have undergone changes ahead f the season, with some of their players leaving (Ruiz, Zaryazhko, Jack, and Chernova). Setter Matienko and spikers Maofeeva and Ilchenko joined. Two of them are well experienced, but didn't play important roles on their former teams, while Ilchenko has potential, but lacks experience. 9 or 10 players are on the roster at the most. They beat two newly relegated teams and one from the bottom part of the table in the Russian championship, and beat Omsk and Dynamo Moscow in straight sets.

Uralochka reached CEV Cup final last season, but with a better team. They beat Dinamo Bukarest in the challenge round, but lost the rematch 3-2. CSM Bucharest are at least as good now as Bucharest were back then. CSM played an international tournament in Istres last month to win all five of their games (French championship defending champions Cannes, Asterix Kieldrech from Belgium twice...). I expect them to step up today and display a much better game to win at least two sets.