Luxembourg, March 20, 2018. Eczacıbaşı VitrA ISTANBUL reached the CEV Volleyball Cup final after defeating SSC Palmberg SCHWERIN on home court on Tuesday night. The Turkish club did not lose a single set throughout the Semi-Finals phase, showing good disposition towards the last round of the competition. Minchanka MINSK and Allianz MTV STUTTGART delivered a thrilling duel throughout the Semi-Final as they played their second five-set match and needed the Golden Set to reveal the eventual Finalist of the #CEVCupW.

Eczacıbaşı VitrA ISTANBUL (TUR) vs SSC Palmberg SCHWERIN (GER) 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-20)



•    Eczacibasi VitrA edged to a 8-6 lead in the first set thanks to consecutive attacks from Meliha Ismailoglu, Rachael Adams and Jordan Larson. Two back-row kills by the German team moved the score to 9-9. Just before second technical time-out, SSC Palmberg head coach Felix Koslowski stopped the match once again and took another break at 14-9 for Eczacibasi. Maja Ognjenovic started to set more balls to Adams and the American star added three more points to the count of the Orange and Whites at 16-10. The set eventually ended at 25-18 for the home side.

•    In the second set, Eczacibasi took a two-point lead at 5-3 with Tijana Bošković’s ace point. SSC Palmberg SCHWERIN wanted to bounce back and put up a fight; however, they could not stop the Turkish Tigers’ effective serves. German setter Denise Hanke put some quality serves while trying to come back at 11-7. A kill block by Büsra Kilicli prompted another German timeout at 13-8. Bošković stepped in and Eczacibasi jumped out to a 16-13 lead. The Orange and Whites kept dominating the second set and finished it with the score of 25-19.

•    In the third set, head coach Marco Motta substituted Tijana Bošković with Gözde Yilmaz and Büsra Kilicli with Beyza Arici. Eczacibasi struck early again with a 9-7 lead. Motta took a first time-out at 9-8 while SCHWERIN looked fired up. Rachael Adams stepped in the game and put a block point while the German team kept scoring. Despite the resistance shown by the German champions, Eczacibasi ended the third set in their favour as well (25-20) and won the match 3-0, thus progressing to the CEV Cup Finals.

Simge Sebnem Akoz, libero of Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL: “I am very happy that we won 3-0. We delivered a great team effort. I am looking forward to knowing the name of our opponent in the finals. I hope we get good results from both matches and will lift the trophy.”

Denise Hanke, setter of SSC Palmberg SCHWERIN: “It was great to play against my former team. They played a good match. I wish them good luck for the finals.”

Minchanka MINSK (BLR) vs Allianz MTV STUTTGART (GER) 2-3 (19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 12-15) Golden Set: 15-8

• The second Semi-Final match of the CEV Volleyball Cup between Minchanka MINSK and Allianz MTV STUTTGART gathered interest from a record number of people for the Belarusian Volleyball family. More than 3,000 fans including representatives of the Belarusian Government, such as the Minister of Sports of Belarus, Sergey Kovalchuk, attended the match.
• For the first time in the history of Belarusian club Volleyball, a team from this country has achieved such a major result in the European Cups.
• The match was held just two days before the first final game of Minchanka MINSK in their National Championship. Therefore, the game against Allianz MTV STUTTGART was an effective warm-up before thechampionship series for the domestic crown.
• The most effective player was Katsiaryna Sakolchyk, scoring 18 points, and she did so after she had top scored against Uralochka three weeks ago as well.

Aksana Kavalchuk, captain of Minchanka MINSK: “After suffering a defeat at home last week, Allianz MTV STUTTGART simply approached this match like a “do or die” situation - they risked in serve, attack, reacted very well in block, they had nothing to lose. Tonight we were very cautious, so the opponent beat us with their pressure in the first sets. In the third part we managed to change the course of the game. The most important set was the fourth one. We believed in ourselves until the last moments and despite the loss of the game we were able to win  the Golden Set and with it the Semi-Final. We would like to thank the fans for their unprecedented support. Thanks to them, our determination to win was even stronger because of the responsibility we had to show them our best.”

Viktar Hancharou, coach of Minchanka MINSK: “We did our worst in reception during the first two sets. My team struggled to cope with the complex flow of STUTTGART’s serve. Only the score 0-2 made us change our game tactic. We had no other choice but to fight back, because our fans, Minsk and our country were right behind us. We reviewed all our tactics, their serves, slightly modified our elements, worked well on the block, and as a result we won. We also noticed that if Allianz MTV STUTTGART started trailing in the score, it was hard for them to bounce back. In general the match followed the ideal scenario for STUTTGART. It was a semi-final featuring two equal teams, we both have good setters and spikers, so in this confrontation it all depended on the quality of our reception in the actual match.”

For more details about #CEVCupW click here.