Sopot, Poland, January 15, 2014. Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL of Turkey confirmed on Wednesday their excellent record in this year’s CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – they dropped only one set in the prelims – cruising to a straight away victory (25-21, 25-20, and 25-22) over Poland’s champions Atom Trefl SOPOT in the opening round of the Playoffs 12.
The match got started with the teams showing amazing actions in defense but the guests from Turkey looked more focused and SOPOT head coach Teun Buijs was forced to ask for a time-out as his side trailed 2:6. Only after the first technical time-out the Atomic girls could compensate a bit for their disastrous start mainly using their middle-blockers to surprise the Turkish defense. Still it was Eczacibasi that was scoring most of the points (7:14) and Buijs had to take another time-out. The home side was not effective at all with their blocks and even after two points scored by Charlotte Leys and Judith Pietersen, was lagging six points behind their rivals at the second mandatory stop. Eczacibasi looked unstoppable (13:21) but eventually SOPOT stepped it up and started performing much better, especially in blocking. They even reduced their gap to two points (21:23) after an amazing attack killed by Kimberly Hill from the left wing. Still SOPOT could not close the most important rallies and Eczacibasi deservedly pocketed the opening set with an ace (21-25).
The beginning of the second set saw the score staying very close (5 all) and even though SOPOT performed much better than they had done in the opening set, especially in defense, it was again Eczacibasi that set the pace of the game (7:8). The guests accelerated their pace after the first technical time-out (8:12) but with four consecutive points and their Ukrainian-born middle-blocker Yuliya Shelukhina on fire, SOPOT stormed back to level the score at 12. The audience got just crazy after a superb attack from the back-row by Kimberly Hill but yet again SOPOT trailed also at the second technical time-out (13:16). Their mistakes in defense paved the way with gold for the Turkish team (15:19) and the final 20-25 was cashed by Croatia’s Senna Usic Jogunica.
Another close start marked the third set where Neslihan Demir and Brizitka Molnar anchored the offense of Eczacibasi and SOPOT respectively (7:8). Molnar scored another two points to claim an 11:8 lead for the home side and the local heroines seized the moment and the opportunity to break away in the score (15:9). Eczacibasi found back momentum to almost close the gap at the second mandatory stop (16:15); the score was eventually drawn at 20 before Eczacibasi imposed their class to claim a 3:0 away victory (22-25).
“Even though this may not be reflected by the final score, it was a very tough game” said Eczacibasi head coach Lorenzo Micelli. “Only the next one will decide about who makes it to the next round. I am really proud of my players because they did a great job tonight especially since we have been dealing with quite some injuries lately.”
“Though we lost this was a great game for us. Our opponents showed a true fighting spirit for they did not give up until the end of each set” commented SOPOT team captain Izabela Belcik. “We were trying to keep the score close but every time we succeeded in achieving this goal, they broke away and claimed another three, four points. They were simply more focused and they exploited our mistakes and weaknesses turning them into something they could use.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match