31/07/2015 19:58
Third straight win for Turkey’s men after coming back twice in matchup with Croatia
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Ankara, Turkey, July 31, 2015. In the fourth leg of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men, Turkey and Croatia clashed at Ankara’s TVF Baskent Volleyball Hall. The Turkish side looked confident after last week’s double victory against Romania in Canakkale and the home heroes extended their winning streak against Croatia after a five-set thriller (23-25, 27-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-10).
The first set started in a promising way for the home side with some excellent blocks forcing the Croatian side to spike off the bounds. The first technical time-out came nevertheless with Croatia leading the way by 8:7. Croatia’s spikers started to perform with more and more consistency and scored a few points in a row so the visitors got up by 16:11 at the second mandatory break. Turkey attempted a comeback in order to turn the tide but Croatia could hold on to their lead and brought the set to an end at 25-23 in their favour. Croatia’s Ivan Raic’s 45% of efficiency in attack and five points were instrumental to his side’s set win.
The second set was a close race as well with Turkey setting the pace (8:6) at the first mandatory break. Halfway through this set, Turkey’s powerful spikes proved difficult to control for the Croatian defence and the hosts continued to dictate the tempo of the match (16:15). Both teams fought bravely with their blocks and attacks, with the score being levelled once more at 24 all. Turkey eventually claimed the second set by 27-25 with the help of Ufuk Minici’s excellent attacks as the young opposite scored eight points on his own with a whopping 80% success rate in this set.
The third set started off competitively with Croatia leading by a very small margin. Turkey struggled in reception and went into the second technical time-out trailing by 13:16. The Croatian side continued to dominate the remainder of the set bringing it to an end at 25-18. Ivan Raic was the man of the third set with 50% success rate in attack and adding five points to his personal tally as well as to his team’s sheet.
Turkey’s mentor Emanuele Zanini asked for a time-out in set 4 when his guys trailed 6:13 but Croatia continued to be in the front once the second technical time-out was called (16:10). It looked like everything was going just easy for Croatia until Turkey regained their spirit and fought back with excellent attacks and blocks winning the set by 25-23. Turkish libero Caner Dengin chiefly helped his side with a terrific 86% success rate in defence.
Turkey got up 8:7 in the final set as teams switched sides of the court. Croatia took an urgent time-out as Turkey dominated the scene with excellent counterattacks and blocks at 11:7 but without any effect as the hosts went on to cash the fifth set at 15-10. Ivan Raic top scored in the end with 24 points followed by Turkey’s Gökhan Gökgöz with 23.
Emanuele Zanini, coach of Turkey: “I am pleased with today’s result as my team fought to the very end of the game despite suffering a setback in the two sets that we lost.”
Caner Peksen, captain of Turkey: “I think the game went really well, as we achieved what we had planned. At some point the quality of our performance dropped but we fought back and won the match. I am happy with our performance today.”
Igor Simuncic, coach of Croatia: “Today’s match was a very tough one and it was a challenge for me. It is sport at the end of the day; we look forward to tomorrow’s game.”
Tsimafei Zhukouski, captain of Croatia: “It was a very good game and we did have a chance to win tonight but we were less concentrated than our opponent. I want to congratulate Team Turkey as they fought hard through to the very end.”
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