Istanbul, Turkey, March 28, 2017. Galatasaray ISTANBUL hosted Russia's Dinamo KAZAN on Tuesday evening at the Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall in front of a thousand spectators with the large majority of those departing proud after seeing their team win 3-0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-16) and take an important first step towards European silverware this season.
Whilst it was considered as an early final match by many of the Volleyball family in Turkey, in reality it was the first match of two semi-finals to determine who will go for gold early next month in the 2017 CEV Volleyball Cup. Galatasaray ISTANBUL have a long standing history in European competitions and they were facing yet another Russian giant after losing the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup final to Dinamo KRASNODAR.
Against their much respected opponent, Galatasaray ISTANBUL played a well organised game where they were able to make a difference all over the court, most notably with eleven blocks, many of which came at important moments. The Galatasaray ISTANBUL block managed to halt Dinamo KAZAN's attackers through some excellent play by their middle blockers, Hristina Ruseva from Bulgaria and Sinead Jack from Trinidad and Tobago.
Italian opposite hitter Nadia Centoni put in one of her best performances of the season as she became the best scorer with 15 points. Sinead Jack followed her with 14 points also for the home team. Dinamo KAZAN's best scorer was Elitsa Vasileva with 14 points, but her efforts were not enough to take control of the game for the visiting team.
After the match, Galatasaray ISTANBUL head coach Ataman Güneyligil commented: “I am very happy with the final result. However, I can not say that I am satisfied with the game that we played in the first set. We made too many mistakes for this level. We must maintain our tempo, we should not make so many mistakes - especially in reception. The match in Kazan is going to be a lot harder. I want to thank all our fans who have come to the hall to support us tonight.”
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