02/03/2014 18:34
Besiktas to play Zarechie in Challenge Cup final
2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Women
Istanbul, Turkey, March 2, 2014. Another Turkish team qualified on Sunday for the last act of the European Cups. This time it was Besiktas ISTANBUL to progress to the final of the 2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Women to play there Russia’s Zarechie ODINTSOVO later this month. After scoring a 3:1 away victory on Wednesday, Besiktas claimed their ticket to the final after making it 2:2 in sets in the return game with Poland’s Impel WROCLAW played on Sunday, before eventually losing the game at the tie-break (27-25, 20-25, 21-25, 25-22, and 9-15). Besiktas – who got the right to participate in the European Cups only after winning the BVA Cup last October – was paced by Selime Ilyasoglu with 23 points, while Germany’s Maren Brinker recorded the same number of points for WROCLAW.
Besiktas started off strong (6:3) and controlled the game through to the second technical time-out (16:11) of the opening set. However, Impel fought back and could make it 19 all. Besiktas got back the lead at 23:21 but WROCLAW scored the next couple of points to contribute a very exciting final rush with the hosts eventually having the upper hand at 27-25.
Impel was off to a very good start in the second set (3:5) but Besiktas responded promptly to draw level at 7. The hosts could lead the way by the slimmest margin at the first technical time-out (8:7) before WROCLAW changed gear and flipped the charts around (12:16). At this stage Besiktas was making a way too many mistakes and Impel comfortably cashed the final 20-25 to draw level in sets.
The third set was a very close race with the score tight up to 14 all; Impel scored the next couple of points to call for the second technical time-out and slowly but surely widened their lead (15:18). Even though Besiktas produced some good blocks and evened the score at 20, the Polish ladies did not miss their chance and cruised to the 21-25 that prompted a 1:2 lead for the guests.
Things did not improve at the beginning of the fourth set for the home side with Besiktas trailing 5:7; Impel continued to set the pace of the game (13:15) but finally the hosts stormed back to make it 15 all. After completing their comeback, they exploited a few mistakes by their opponents to move up 18:15 and after another tie at 22, Besiktas scored three straight points to cash the fourth set (25-22) and their ticket to the final of the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup.
Another neck-to-neck race unfolded in the tie-break up to the moment teams switched sides of the court; after that Impel opened the gap (7:10) and in the end claimed a 9-15 set victory that nevertheless was not enough to book a spot in the finals.
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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