Bucharest, Romania, May 6, 2018.  Italy’s Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO claimed the bronze medals of the 2018 CEV Volleyball Champions League - Women. In Sunday’s third place match in Bucharest, they crushed Turkey’s Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL in straight sets for a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-20) victory to secure a spot on the podium.

Shrugging off an early 3-1 Galatasaray lead, Imoco went right for it and quickly established total domination on the court. Resorting to as many as three aces in the first set, coach Daniele Santarelli’s squad performed better than the opponents on all other counts as well. They faced few issues on the way to a multiple set point at 24-14. The Turkish team survived the next three rallies before an unforced error ended the set at 25-17 Imoco’s way.

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The second set was in many ways a repetition of the first one. The Italian team made fewer mistakes and were better able to close the rallies in their favour, opening a wide gap on the scoreboard before Kimberly Hill’s spike fixed the 25-18 win.



The third set was quite a different story. Led by Dobriana Rabadzhieva’s strong overall performance, Galatasaray stepped up their efforts and put up a fight, staying competitive through 18-18. At that point, Imoco Volley regained control and finished it all off with four points in a row for 25-20.



Samantha Bricio Ramos was the best scorer of the match with 14 points for Imoco.

While the Italian side celebrated their achievement, on the other side of the court Galatasaray’s squad celebrated the Volleyball careers of Neslihan Demir Güler and Seda Tokatlioglu Aslanyürek, who are now retiring from professional sports. After lifting both of them in the air, the players let their emotions pour out in hugs and tears.



Ataman Güneyligil, head coach of Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL: “Today I just want to say something about Neslihan, who played her last game ever. I want to wish her good luck in her new life. About the game: we played like a youth team today…”

Neslihan Demir Güler, captain of Galatasaray SK ISTANBUL: “We did not play like we wanted in this tournament - neither yesterday, nor today... We lost in three sets, so there isn’t much to say about today's game. It was very emotional for me - my last game. I don't know what my new life will be like, but I am sure that it will be something I like.”

Daniele Santarelli, head coach of Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO: “We are happy, because we won today, after the last match against VakifBank ISTANBUL. I am verry sorry for yesterday, because we wanted to win. For us it was a dream to win the competition, but the third place is a good result.”

Samanta Fabris, player of Imoco Volley CONEGLIANO: “We wanted to make our fans happy, because they were with us here, in Bucharest, and I am glad that we won a medal. I am pretty satisfed with this season, but I feel that we can do more…”




         

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