03/01/2014 22:40
Easy victory for Turkey as Romania comes from behind to edge Ukraine
2014 FIVB Volleyball World Championship - Women
Ankara, Turkey, January 3, 2014. The home heroines of Turkey could not ask for a better way to start their campaign to claim a spot in the Final Round of the 2014 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship. On Friday they opened the program of their home qualifier at the Baskent hall in Ankara by routing Cyprus in three straight sets (25-9, 25-9, and 25-12) in 57 minutes. Later in the evening Romania came back strong to edge Ukraine in five sets (23-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-21, and 15-12) to give something to celebrate to their Argentinean mentor Guillermo Gallardo who has been at the helm of the team for only two weeks.
Turkey set the tone of the game right from the start forcing Cyprus head coach into an early time-out (5:1). They still comfortably set the pace of the game at the first technical time-out (8:3) and did not stop widening their lead (20:6) before claiming the first set with a terrific 25-9. Things did not change much also in the second set where Turkey stormed out to a 4:1 lead and dictated the pace also at the first technical time-out (8:2). By the time the second mandatory stop was called, Turkey was up 16:4 and Cyprus could not compensate for the difference in class, thus paving the way for another 25-9 for the home side. The third set followed a similar plot with Turkey opening with a 5:0 run before calling for the first technical time-out by the score of 8:2. Turkey had a 9-point lead at the second technical time-out and easily finished the job at 25-12 for a 3:0 victory. Eda Erdem Dündar (pictured) paced the home side with 11 points, the only player to finish the game in double digits.
“Cyprus is a young team with inexperienced players,” said Turkey’s head coach Massimo Barbolini. “They played pretty good for such a young team. We did our best today and will try to do the same also for the remainder of the weekend.”
“Turkey is too strong for us” added Cyprus mentor Petros Patsias. “And with the support of their fans they won the match easily. We tried our best but we know our level and we know where we stand. We need more experience.”
In the other match of the day Romania beat Ukraine 3:2 at the end of a real marathon (23-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-21, and 15-12). Iryna Trushkina top scored in the game with 23 points while Adina Salaoru registered 21 for Romania in their winning effort.
Ukraine started out strong leading 6:2 in the opening set and set the pace of the game also at the second technical time-out (16:11); however, Romania did not surrender, fought their way back to draw level at 23 all but it was not enough as Ukraine showed much resilience to finish it off at 25-23. Ukraine showed good momentum also in the second set (5:1) and they kept a margin of five points also at the second technical time-out (16:11); however, after leveling the score at 24, this time Romania could successfully complete their comeback (26-24) drawing level also in sets.
Once more Ukraine was off to the better start in the third set (8:5) and showed good play to make it 21:17 shortly before the final rush. Ukraine did not look back anymore this time and pocketed a 2:1 lead (25-19). The fourth set got started with a very close race and Ukraine leading the way at the first technical time-out by the slimmest margin. However, Romania clawed back to flip the charts around at the second mandatory stop (16:13) and cruise to the final 25-21 to call for the tie-break.
Ukraine was up 8:7 there as teams changed sides of the court before Romania leveled at 8 and widened their lead to 13:8, adding another two points to complete their run at 15-12.
“We stayed positive throughout the match,” commented Romanian mentor Guillermo Gallardo. “I have been pushing my players all the time so that they could find the motivation to go for a victory. I am particularly happy with the result because these girls deserved to win tonight. I have been coaching this team for only two weeks and this is a good start for us.”
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