12/07/2015 21:45
Slovenia keep on rolling with second straight win over Turkey in Pool B
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Samsun, Turkey, July 12, 2015. The hosts of Turkey and Slovenia completed on Sunday afternoon their duties on the first weekend of action for Pool B of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men. The home heroes of Turkey were hoping to make amends for their 0:3 loss to Slovenia on Saturday but they ended up losing also their second home match at Mustafa Dagistanli Sports Hall in Samsun, this time by 1:3 (26-24, 24-26, 15-25, 23-25).
The start of the match was very intense with both teams showing some powerful spikes and Slovenia getting to the front by the slimmest margin at the first technical time-out. The story continued the same way also for the remainder of the set which turned into a real thriller; supported by their loud and passionate fans, Turkey eventually had the upper hand at 26-24, with Slovenia’s superstar Mitja Gasparini recording seven points all alone in this set while Faik Samed Günes paced Turkey with five.
The score remained very close also in the opening stages of the second set where both teams fought hard to stay in the lead. Turkey called for the first technical time-out leading by 8:5 and the hosts kept a solid margin of four points also at the second mandatory break (16:12). Though Turkey played with a lot more confidence than in the opening set, this was not enough to prevent a furious comeback by the visiting team with Slovenia eventually ending the second set at 26-24 in their favour. Alen Sket impressed in this stanza recording as many as eight points for Slovenia as well as by registering a mind-boggling 75% of efficiency in attack.
Things were a lot easier for Slovenia in the third set where Turkey made a lot of mistakes and conceded some easy points to their opponents. Slovenia, on the other hand, responded with strong blocking and broke away to a comfortable 16:9 lead at the second technical time-out. The visitors extended their dominance through to the end of the set (25-15) with Gasparini being their most prolific player.
The story continued in the same way also in the fourth set where Slovenia caught a good start and again went to the front at the second technical time-out (16:10). Turkey tried to close the gap and scored point after point reducing their deficit to only one point at 23:24 but a service error by Mustafa Koc sealed the final 25-23 for Slovenia as well as their 3:1 win.
Mitja Gasparini top scored in the end with 28 points and an impressive 61% of efficiency in attack with Alen Sket adding another 20 points to the count of the winning side.
Slovenia coach Andrea Giani said: “It was a tough match today because the Turkish team played better today than they had done yesterday and this in the end cost us a set. We had problems with the side out but we worked hard on this and we improved throughout the game.”
Slovenia captain Tine Urnaut: “We knew it would be a very tough match today, and the Turkish side played very well in the first set and put a lot of pressure on us especially on the last part of each set, doing so especially with their services and attacks. Fortunately we were always able to fight back and in the end we won this match.”
Turkey coach Emanuele Zanini: “Today we got to see a different match as we played differently [than we had done on Saturday], especially at blocking and in defence. We are disappointed as in the second set we had a clear advantage but we could not capitalise on it. I would like to stress that the players here don’t always play in the starting six in their respective clubs throughout the season, that’s why it’s difficult to maintain stability and we have problems to find a solution when difficulties come up.”
Turkey captain Caner Peksen: “We started off well and won the first set. We are a young team and tried to do our best as Slovenia responded. Losing the second and third set affected our performance but on the last set towards the end we tried our best to change the result.”
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