Moscow, Russia, January 9, 2018. With one match tonight, you may have thought that we would have been eased back into the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League, but that proved to not be the case.   Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL travelled north to Moscow still on zero points in Pool D after losing in the 1st Leg to their city rivals VakifBank ISTANBUL.  It was a different story in Russia's capital tonight as the travelling team dominated in three of the four sets and came out deserved winners against Dinamo MOSCOW in 108 minutes.

Tonight's full result:

In the first set the Turkish team immediately began to show what they can do. A score of 1-5 speaks for itself. However, Dinamo answered immediately with Nataliya Goncharova attacking well and Vera Vetrova making an ace from the service line.  All of this helped, but the hosts did not look so confident.  The travelling side looked more agile with more variety in attack - Neslihan Demir Güler and Tatiana Kosheleva were particularily impressive as their team won the opening set to 21 points.

In the second set Dinamo MOSCOW looked further adrift. Galatasaray were rapidly scoring points and at 6-12 there only appeared to be one outcome for the set.  The Turkish team played in a relaxed way, with great team spirit, giving them a huge advantage. The set finished 25-18.

In the third set the home side woke up and it felt like a new beginning for the game.  Marina Babeshina refreshed the game of Dinamo and whilst they struggled to finish the set - at 24-21 there were two unsuccessful attacks of Goncharova - in the end she scored with a lucky ball after some sophisticated defence. 25-23 and the Russian side were back in the game.

Or so they thought.  The fourth set was a poor showing from Dinamo, but the Turkish team played great.  Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL excelled with powerful serves and their positive attitude helped to bring them their first victory in Pool D.

Quotes:

Tatiana Kosheleva from Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL: "The number of errors has decreased, the quality of volleyball has risen. The winner is the one who makes less mistakes. For my second year in Turkey, I like it even more than the first. I got used to it and enjoy it. We always run the risk, but today I tried to play smarter."

Vera Vetrova from Dinamo MOSCOW: "We could not do anything. First and foremost, we played bad in reception. On the other hand, they played very well in reception and defence. In the third set we changed the course of the game, but then failed."

Nataliya Goncharova from Dinamo MOSCOW: "It was difficult to gather. They had a very good serve, they risked, risked. We could play better and show better results through the match."

Zoran Terzic, coach of Dinamo MOSCOW: "The players did not risk enough and you can't play against such a team without taking any risks. It's a good school for our players, it is necessary to take some lessons from this experience."

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