Szczecin, Poland, April 5, 2015.  Turkey’s VakifBank ISTANBUL won the bronze medals of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women!  The host team of the Final Four in Szczecin, Chemik POLICE, once again pleased the full stands of Azoty Arena with a good performance, but could not please them with the victory.  The Turkish standout proved its superiority with a 3:0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17) win.

With another incredible performance by middle blocker Milena Rasic, well supported by captain Gozde Sonsirma and the rest of their teammates, VakifBank secured the 25-19 win of the first set.  Although the inspired home heroines of Chemik had the lead through most of the set, the conclusive moments were a true display of VakifBank’s power.  The story of the second set was quite similar, although this time the lead switched sides more often.  Rasic and Sonsirma once again led their Turkish team to the 25-21 win with an elegant pipe shot by the captain for the last point.  The third set was not as competitive as the previous two.  Although the fantastic home crowd in Szczecin did the utmost to inspire the Polish team, the players seemed to have already lost faith.  VakifBank took control and cruised to a 25-17 win with Sheilla Castro brilliantly finishing the match off with an ace.

Gozde Sonsirma with 18 points and Milena Rasic with 16 were the best scorers of the match.  Stefana Veljkovic and Agnieszka Bednarek-Kasza were Chemik’s most prolific scorers with 9 points each.

Giovanni Guidetti, head coach of VakifBank:  “I want to thank my players because they had so much pressure on them.  They did a really great job and showed so much passion and strength and it was not easy.”

Giuseppe Cuccarini, head coach of Chemik:  “Sometimes this kind of games are very hard to play.  We tried to play our best, but of course it could have been better.  For sure we played better than yesterday.  The better team won.  I want to thank our club for organizing this tournament and our fans for creating such an amazing atmosphere!”

Gozde Sonsirma, captain of VakifBank:  “It was a great tournament, but we are sad that this was not the gold medal match.  I want to thank all our supporters.  I hope that our Turkish colleagues will win the gold.”

Anna Werblinska, captain of Chemik:  “We are very sad.  We lost because we do not have the experience.  I would like to thank all the people involved, our fans and the team.”

Ana Bjelica, opposite of Chemik:  “I think that VakifBank won because they know how to play this game at this level.  They have already participated in several in Final Four tournaments.  We need to gain some experience.  We hope to win the gold medal in our league and forget about this match.”