21/01/2014 18:38
Eczacibasi claims first ticket to Playoffs 6
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women
Istanbul, Turkey, January 21, 2014. Turkey’s Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL turned on Tuesday into the very first team to book their ticket to the Playoffs 6 of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women. Eczacibasi did so by claiming also the second round of their Playoffs 12 double-header with Poland’s champions Atom Trefl SOPOT, even though this time they dropped the first set before getting back on track to sweep the next three (16-25, 25-21, 25-21, and 25-20). Eczacibasi will now wait for the winner of the clash starring two rookies in Europe’s elite club competition, i.e. Omichka OMSK REGION of Russia and Italy’s Prosecco Doc-Imoco CONEGLIANO. Italy’s vice champions got the right edge for the return game in Siberia with their straight victory last week in Treviso.
Last week Eczacibasi had seized the night in straight sets and probably was a little too confident the second match would have followed a similar plot, so the hosts quickly trailed 1:4 before an attack and good blocks by their captain Esra Gümüs Kirici restored the balance at 5 all. It did not last that long for Zuzanna Efimienko helped the guests from Poland break away once more and call for the first technical time-out by the score of 6:8. Eczacibasi struggled with their reception and their mentor Lorenzo Micelli stopped the game by the time his players were trailing 6:10. He did not get the effects he was searching for as SOPOT scored another three points in a row (6:13). The second technical time-out was called as the score stood at 7:16 and even after Micelli tried a double substitution with Asuman Karakoyun and Yimei Wang replacing starting setter and opposite Denise Hanke and Neslihan Demir (Darnel), SOPOT continued to control the operations (12:24). The Atomic girls missed on three opportunities to cash the opening set but in the end they sealed the final 16-25 with a terrific performance by their Belgian wing-spiker Charlotte Leys (8 points).
After a very close start (3:3, 5:5), Eczacibasi gradually imposed their pace in the second set (8:5). A very good serving turn by their “hammer”, Neslihan Demir, moved the score up to 11:5 before her series was stopped by SOPOT via an attack killed by Leys. Micelli asked for a time-out as the lead of his players was reduced down to three points (13:10) but could not prevent his opponent from drawing level (14:14). SOPOT could even lead the way at the second technical time-out on a block by Izabela Belcik (15:16) before the home team responded by claiming the next two rallies. Once more, as the score was very close and similarly to what he had done in the opening set, Micelli substituted Hanke with Karakoyun, before good blocking by Demir and Maja Poljak widened the margin for the home side (21:17). The Dutch-born head coach of SOPOT Teun Buijs changed his opposite, with Judith Pietersen replacing Anna Podolec, but Eczacibasi kept the leading position (23:20). Team captain Esra Gümüs Kirici was the match winner for the home side as she killed two spikes to make it 25-21 and restore the balance in sets. Demir, on the other hand, had really taken Eczacibasi by the hand scoring 8 points in this set.
Micelli decided to keep Karakoyun on court for the start of the third set where SOPOT got a small lead (4:6) before the score was drawn again at six. After scoring the next two, SOPOT called for the first technical time-out before Eczacibasi clawed back and flipped the charts around at 12:11. The Ukrainian-born middle-blocker of SOPOT, Yuliya Shelukhina, suffered a knee injury by the score of 15:14 and the game was stopped for a while until she was replaced by Justyna Lukasik. This did not affect the performance of the guests who got to the front again (15:16) before Senna Usic Jogunica hammered a few balls down the line to make it 18:16 for Eczacibasi. Both teams could complete their respective side-outs before Maja Poljak stretched Eczacibasi’s lead to three points (22:19). A few moments later it was Büsra Cansu to finish the set (25-21) to make it 2:1.
With this, Eczacibasi had already claimed their ticket to the Playoffs 6. However, the hosts looked very determined to win also the fourth set where they got up 8:5 at the first technical time-out and widened their lead up to six points later on (16:10) via the contribution of Senna Usic Jogunica and Esra Gümüs Kirici. Atom Trefl attempted a late comeback (20:17), Micelli stopped the game and their small cushion (23:20) was enough for the hosts to finish it off for a home victory (25-21) and to start the celebrations for making the next round of the competition.
Neslihan Demir top scored in the end with 23 points while US American Kimberly Hill paced Atom Trefl SOPOT in their losing effort with 16.
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