24/09/2017 16:06
Bulgaria record second tiebreak victory after drama-filled match with Turkey
2017 CEV Volleyball European Championship - Women
Baku, Azerbaijan, September 24, 2017. There must be something special at the iconic National Gymnastics Arena – since three out of four matches contested so far in Pool C of the 2017 women’s EuroVolley have ended in a tiebreaker. This is what happened on Sunday afternoon as well when Bulgaria had the upper hand in a rollercoaster of a game with Turkey (3-2; 25-17, 10-25, 25-16, 20-25, 20-18) to secure their second victory in the tournament and set their sights on the knockout stage of the competition. As for Turkey, their next matchup with Ukraine will be a live-or-die bout, as they need to secure a victory if they want to stay alive in the competition.
Bulgaria and Turkey added another chapter to their rivalry in women’s Volleyball as they opened the programme of the third competition day in Baku. Bulgaria have been a force to reckon with since the early days of the European Championship – and they boast a gold medal from the 1981 edition they hosted – whereas Turkey are chasing in Azerbaijan their third #EuroVolleyW medal to go with silver and bronze they won in 2003 and 2011, respectively.
Turkey were also vying for their first victory in the pool following Saturday night’s loss to Russia and they took to the court determined to achieve their goal, claiming an early 10-5 lead, before Bulgaria fought their way back to edge ahead at the second technical timeout (16-15). Since facing that 5-10 deficit, the ‘Lionesses’ stamped a positive 14-5 run to change the course of the game. At this stage, Turkey coach Giovanni Guidetti replaced Neriman Özsoy Gencyürek with the MVP of this year’s U23 World Championship, Hande Baladin, but to no avail – as Bulgaria scored another three points in a row to move the score to 22-15 before Strashimira Simeonova finished it off 25-17.
Turkey lacked a strong opposite hitter with both Meryem Boz and Polen Uslupehlivan not able to deliver with the consistency of their long-time star player Neslihan Demir but they fought back to lead 10-4 early in the second set. Bulgaria could not recover from this early blow and trailed by as many as 12 points at 20-8. The final stages of the set were filled with long, exciting rallies – but Turkey’s dominance was obvious and resulted in a landslide 25-10 win.
In a rollercoaster of a game, Bulgaria bounced back from such a heavy loss to impose their rule in a one-sided third set (25-16) where Turkey coach Giovanni Guidetti even replaced their star setter Naz Aydemir Akyol with Gamze Alikaya in an effort to stabilise his team’s game – but without success. Dobriana Rabadzhieva, Elitsa Vasileva and Emiliya Dimitrova all contributed to Bulgaria’s effort to double their lead in the match and they put up a fight in the early stages of the fourth set as well where they made up for an early deficit to restore equality at 7-7.
The Azerbaijani crowd were openly rooting for Turkey and the ‘Sultans of the Net’ paid back the support they were receiving with a valiant effort resulting in a compelling 15-8 advantage. Bulgaria did not make it easy at all for the Turks – but Guidetti’s side had a lot more quality and consistency, especially in defence, and Neriman sealed the 25-20 that called for another tiebreaker at National Gymnastics Arena.
After so many turnarounds, one could only expect the fifth set would be an extremely close affair – and Turkey made it clear they were going to fight through to the end as they turned a 3-6 deficit into an 8-7 lead at the side switch. The close battle that everyone had been longing for since the beginning of the match was finally there – and Turkey had taken on this challenge with almost only the second lines compared to the initial roster. Emiliya Dimitrova cancelled a Turkish match ball for 14-all and only a few seconds later Bulgaria had one of their own. Neriman responded in style with a thunderous pipe attack and the drama continued until Rabadzhieva cashed Bulgaria’s fourth match point at 20-18.
Quotes
Ivan Dimitrov, head coach of Bulgaria: “It was a fantastic match. After edging Ukraine yesterday, we prepared for the matchup with Turkey. We played Turkey at the World Championship qualifications earlier this season and we ended up losing 2-3. However, we took our revenge today. Our group is very interesting – all teams are playing at the same level and the matches are extremely exciting. My team has been playing very well. In the past three editions of the European Championships, we did not achieve any good results but we want to change this negative trend in Baku. For some of my players it is their last chance to show high-quality Volleyball in a major tournament.”
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