25/09/2011 23:34
Turkey surprise Italy, Croatia out
2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Monza, Italy, September 25, 2011 - After 19 wins in a row at European championships, Italy today lost their invincibility against Turkey. Marco Aurelio Motta's team deserved the hard-fought win with a strong performance at the net. Turkey overcame host Italy 3-2 (21-25, 28-26, 25-16, 22-25, 15-9) to claim the second spot in Pool B.
Neriman Ozsoy was declared top scorer of the match with 27 points (22 attacks, 1 ace and 4 blocks). Italy's best player was Carolina Costagrande with 16 points.
With middle-blocker Sara Anzanello for Valentina Arrighetti in Italy’s starting six, the home squad controlled the match in the first set. At the first technical timeout, Massimo Barbolini's girls led by 3 points. Although Toksoy blocked three times Federica Piccinini's attacks, Italy kept their dominance until the end of the set closing it out 25-21.
However, Turkey showed immediately that tonight there was no easy life for Italy. Neslihan Darnel and Gozd Sosnrima blocked successfully at the end of the second set (28-26) and a short burst of speed from 13-13 to 25-16 in the third period gave the Turks a well-deserved 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth set Italy regained the momentum over Marco Aurelio Motta's team at 22-19, and even if Turkey did their best, the Italians brilliantly closed out the set 25-22, offering their home crowd an exciting time-break.
Turkey kept cool in the hottest moment of the match, finishing the fifth set 15-9, and the contest 3-2.
Italian captain Eleonora Lo Bianco: "We haven't been confident enough, especially when we were serving. We got off with the right foot, then we lost our focus."
Italian Coach Massimo Barbolini: "It was a good game. Tonight the Turks were fighting for victory and demonstrated something more than we did. We made too many mistakes.”
Turkish player Polen Uslupehlivan: "This win means a lot to us. Our moral was down after yesterday’s result. Now we are looking forward. We will have to challenge Spain, the third ranked team from Pool D.
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