16/12/2020 23:00
Two Istanbul teams in contention for #CEVChallengeCupW semis
CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2021 - Women
Luxembourg, December 16, 2020. After completion of Wednesday’s matches, two teams from Istanbul remain in contention for a spot in the semis of the women’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup 2021.
THY ISTANBUL left no chance to C.S.M. LUGOJ of Romania when these two teams locked horns on Wednesday afternoon in Las Palmas. THY ISTANBUL stormed to a comprehensive 3-0 victory (25-5, 25-19, 25-11) and the Turkish team looked especially dominant in the first set, which ended in a landslide 25-5 score. C.S.M. LUGOJ seemed to find their way into the match after the break when action resumed, edging even ahead but THY ISTANBUL soon found back their best game to secure a 25-19 set win. This very same trend continued in the third set where a resounding 25-11 sealed the 3-0 victory of THY ISTANBUL powered by their star player Ebrar Karakurt with 18 points.
On Thursday, THY ISTANBUL will be playing France’s Vandoeuvre NANCY VB for a spot in the semis. The French team caught a very promising start to their match with hosts CV GRAN CANARIA before the home side responded to put up a fight. NANCY eventually claimed the first set 27-25 showing more focus in the key moments and by displaying very solid reception, they doubled their lead in the match after taking the second set quite comfortably at 25-19. Despite trailing 0-2, CV GRAN CANARIA regrouped and delivered a very strong performance to win the third set (25-22) and stay in contention for a spot in the quarterfinals. The hosts took this same energy into the fourth set where NANCY failed to respond to the challenge brought by the home side (25-20). However, fatigue took its toll in the tiebreak, where NANCY broke away to secure a 15-10 win and prevent a historic comeback for GRAN CANARIA. Home star Saray Manzano top scored with 25 points, followed by teammate Lisa Arbos (23), as Emily Grace Thater and Elina Maria Rodriguez piled up 20 each for NANCY.
Over to Turkey, their compatriots of Sistem9 Yesilyurt ISTANBUL (pictured above) cruised to an equally impressive 3-0 victory in their 8th Final matchup with TK KAUNAS VDU of Lithuania (25-12, 25-9, 25-8) with Alexia Ioana Carutasu and Derya Cebecioglu registering 13 points apiece. Their next opponent will be Kairos PONTA DELGADA after the team from Portugal celebrated a 3-1 victory (22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-20) over the current leaders of the Austrian women’s national league, UVC Holding GRAZ. Ursula Ehrhart scored as many as 23 points for the Austrians, and yet PONTA DELGADA had the upper hand in the end. The Portuguese attackers made the difference with their higher consistency, scoring 46 times (37%) vs. 39 for GRAZ (30%).
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