22/10/2013 19:58
Rookie Igtisadchi downs Crvena Zvezda in straight sets
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women
Beograd, Serbia, October 22, 2013. Though they were debuting in Europe’s elite club competition, Azerbaijan’s Igtisadchi BAKU downed Crvena Zvezda BEOGRAD in straight sets (25-15, 25-16, and 25-23) on Tuesday to catch a flying start in the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League.
After losing the opening set quite rapidly, the hosts of Crvena Zvezda started playing much better in the second; they stormed out to a 7:1 lead and continued to set the pace at 11:7 before Dutch opposite Manon Flier anchored Igtisadchi to draw level at 12 all. After that, the guests from Baku dominated the scene once more and did comfortably cruise to the provisional 2:0 (25-16).
The third set followed a similar plot with Crvena Zvezda opening strong (8:5) but Igtisadchi was able to respond to tie the score at 11 all. At the second technical time-out the guests were up 16:13 and they increased their lead to 20:14 before Crvena Zvezda attempted a late comeback playing superbly especially with their block. The head coach of Igtisadchi, Bülent Karslioglu, stopped the game twice in an attempt to stand the comeback of the local heroines; Ljubica Kecman helped Crvena Zvezda survive three match balls but in the end Igtisadchi finished it off at 25-23.
Manon Flier top scored for the winning side with 15 points followed by team captain Wilavan Apinyapong with 14. Ljubica Kecman paced Crvena Zvezda in their losing effort with 13.
“Crvena zvezda is a young team but they tried to do their best. We made a lot mistakes because we had only two trainings together before this game but I hope that we will play better in the next matches” said the captain of Igtisadchi Wilavan Apinyapong. Ljubica Kecman, the receiver of Crvena Zvezda, was satisfied after the match:
“We had our chance in the second and third sets but we couldn’t exploit it. We are sorry because of that but this time Igtisadchi won only because of their experience. We hope that in the next matches we will win some sets or even one point” she added.
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