27/09/2011 19:25
Turkey beat Spain to book their quarterfinal ticket
2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Monza, Italy, September 27, 2011 – Turkey beat Spain in straight sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-21) in today’s first playoff match at PalaIper in Monza. There was nothing to do for Spain to overcome the strong Turkish team. Marco Aurelio Motta's squad will challenge Russia in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
The Turkish team was dominant from the start to the end. Gido Vermuelen's ladies fought gamely but couldn't deal with the power game and technical presence of Turkey.
Best player of the match and top scorer was Neslihan Darnel scoring 18 points.
In the first set, Turkey was one point ahead at the first technical timeout. Both teams fought bravely and there was not much to separate the two opponents until 16-16. However, Marco Aurelio Motta used the technical break to adapt tactics that gave Turkey the force they needed to close the first set out, 25-19.
The second set was still very balanced until 8-8. Then the difference between the two teams started to show off, especially at the net, where Gido Vermuelen' team lacked of power and experience to overcome the Turkish blockers. Turkey never looked back to take a well-deserved 2-0 set
The third set provided more of the same as the inspired Turks continued their run until the end. Toksoy added two aces to her record book, and Neslihan finished the set at 25-21.
Turkey captain Esra Gumus: “We started well and as consequence didn’t let Spain developing the great team work. Our strategy was to face them aggressively, as we did from the beginning of the match today.”
Turkish Coach Marco Motta: “We experienced very few problems in this match. Our defense suffered some times, but we compensated it with strong attacks. A good strategy helped us controlling the game. Now we are among the best eight teams and we will prepare well to challenge Russia with the same energy we have shown against Italy.”
Spanish coach Gido Vermeulen: “Overall, it was a stable game. We defended a lot, but we didn’t manage to control the strong Turkish players. We were frustrated about the result, and this frustration was mirrored in our performance. Unfortunately, we were not able to show our best performance today as we did against Russia and Bulgaria.”
Spanish player Patricia Aranda: “Turkey was the best team we met in this championship.”
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