08/08/2015 23:32
Turkey edge Belarus at tie-break to celebrate fifth hurrah
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Brest, Belarus, August 8, 2015. Though these teams stand no chance of making the Final Four tournament coming up next week in Walbrzych, Poland, the hosts of Belarus and Turkey put on a real show on Saturday night in Brest for the last round of preliminary action in Pool B of the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League – Men. Turkey eventually edged past at the tie-break (20-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-13, 15-9) to extend their winning streak in the competition. The match was also a kind of duel between the two teams’ best outside spikers, Andrei Radziuk for Belarus and Baturalp Burak Güngör for Turkey.
Turkey claimed an early 8:5 lead in the opening set but they could not capitalise on it. Aleh Akhrem and Viachaslau Charapovich combined their solid performance in reception with good attacks for the home side, and Belarus used also their blocks and serves to cash the opening set. Belarus stormed back in the second set to make it 23:24 with the help of Radzivon Miskevich but the next rally was closed by Turkey’s Gökhan Gökgöz (pictured, #10) – eventual best scorer in the match with 27 points – who sealed the final 25-23 for the visitors.
Belarusian middle blocker Maksim Marozau set the tone for the home side in set 3 but Turkey came back strong in the fourth set helped by their star opposite Metin Toy, who finished the game on 24 points. Belarus started making more and more mistakes and even a double substitution made by their mentor Victor Sidelnikov could not improve their performance in defence. Turkey claimed an early lead also in the tie-break and brought the match to an end at 15-9 to celebrate their fifth victory in the competition.
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