24/02/2017 14:50
MARIBOR secure big win, yet Galatasaray are through to quarterfinals
2017 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women
Maribor, Slovenia, February 24, 2017. Nova KBM Branik MARIBOR claimed the re-match of their tie with Galatasaray ISTANBUL on schedule for the 8th Finals of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Cup – Women and they did so by rallying to a 3-2 victory (14-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 15-9). Still, this result is not enough for the Slovenian team to progress to the next round of the competition since the visitors from Turkey had claimed the previous matchup by 3-0.
It was a truly exciting match to follow for the 700 fans in attendance – the young Slovenian team fought bravely against the pre-favourites from Turkey but eventually could not make up for their deficit from the previous match. Galatasaray set the tempo of the game from start to end in the first set (8-4, 16-9) and this resulted in a comprehensive 25-14 win. After such a rough start to the match, Nova KBM Branik played a lot more aggressively in the second set and eventually took it by 25-23. The Slovenes claimed an early lead in the third set too but the experienced players of Galatasaray fought back to make it 14-all. After that, they edged ahead and their eventual 25-20 set win secured them a spot in the quarterfinals. The fourth and fifth sets were of no significance anymore but MARIBOR played with a lot of passion to bid farewell to the European Cups with a 3-2 home victory.
Iza Mlakar top scored in the end for the home side with 29 points. “We started the match kind of scared, but we played better and better after the first set and showed a good performance. We made some mistakes in the third set and as a result, we gave away some easy points, which made sure they would progress to the next round. However, we did not give up and kept fighting for every ball, eventually securing a big victory,” Mlakar said.
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