05/04/2018 09:00
VakifBank and Igor Gorgonzola rely on home-court advantage to secure ticket to #CLF4Bucharest
2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women
Luxembourg, April 5, 2018. VakifBank ISTANBUL and Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA will be trying to capitalise on the away victories they claimed two weeks ago – and to use the home-court advantage to secure their qualification to the Final Four of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Women when hosting Volero ZÜRICH and Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL. If they achieve this goal, VakifBank would make it to the Finals for the sixth straight season whilst NOVARA would achieve this feat for the first time in the still young history of their club.
Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA (ITA) vs. Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL (TUR)
• Igor Gorgonzola have made it to the Playoffs of the CEV Volleyball Champions League for the first time in their history.
• The Italians won the first match coming back from 1-2 to pull out a 3-2 victory in Istanbul.
• Galatasaray will be missing their star player Tatiana Kosheleva, who suffered a serious knee injury and underwent surgery a few days ago.
• Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA can win with any result to secure their spot in the Final Four – whilst Galatasaray need a 3-0 or 3-1 victory. If the Turkish side win 3-2, a Golden Set will determine the eventual winners of this fixture.
• NOVARA have won 11 matches in a row by counting those they have played in the national league, national cup and CEV Champions League.
Stephanie Enright, player of Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA: “Playing Galatasaray was really tough in the first game and we all want this additional win so that we can progress to the Final Four. We must play hard making fewer errors than we made in Istanbul. I would feel honoured to make it to the Final Four and for this reason, I every day try to keep a positive mind-set and to work harder for the achievement of this goal.”
Ataman Güneyligil, head coach of Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL: “Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA play a classic style of Italian Volleyball. I still cannot believe that we lost the first game two weeks ago. We had to win the game after we won the second set with a landslide 25-7. I apologise to the entire Galatasaray family. I think we will show the same kind of performance we showed against VakifBank ISTANBUL in the Playoffs of the Turkish league and we will get the Final Four ticket in Italy.”
VakifBank ISTANBUL (TUR) vs. Volero ZÜRICH (SUI)
• VakifBank need to take two sets from the home match with Volero to secure their sixth straight appearance in the Final Four of the CEV Champions League.
• VakifBank became the first Turkish team to win this competition in 2011 – and they are the most successful one to date with three titles to their name (2011, 2013 and 2017).
• VakifBank have not lost a Champions League home match since December 11, 2014 – when they lost 1-3 to RC CANNES of France.
• VakifBank have won all of their matches in the CEV Volleyball Champions League this season.
Giovanni Guidetti, head coach of VakifBank: “We are very close to reaching our goal, but we first need to qualify for the Final Four. We will play another tough match with Volero. We want to win this one as well to be where we want to be.”
Gözde Kirdar, team captain of VakifBank: “There is only one more step to the Final Four. We only need to win two sets to qualify, but we will play to win as we always do. This is very important to us, because if we qualify, it will be our sixth consecutive Final Four. This is probably a record. We focused extra on this game and we are ready.”
How to follow the matches…
Watch it live: http://cev.laola1.tv/
Click here for a comprehensive TV schedule.
Live score, statistics, reports and photos: all available on www.cev.lu
Social Media: Follow via the official event hashtag (#CLVolleyW) with the most regular updates coming on our competition Twitter account @CEVolleyballCL
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