19/10/2013 20:12
Fenerbahce routs Anorthosis in Challenge Cup opening round
2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men
Istanbul, Turkey, October 19, 2013. Turkey’s Volleyball standout Fenerbahce Grundig ISTANBUL got the right to play this year’s CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup after winning the BVA Cup held a couple of weeks ago in Tirana, Albania. On Saturday Fenerbahce debuted in the European Cups by routing Anorthosis FAMAGUSTA of Cyprus in straight sets (25-18, 25-20, and 25-15) to delight 500 fans in attendance at Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall.
Though Anorthosis played their best, Fenerbahce quickly set the pace of the game with their major stars Ivan Miljkovic, Luis Felipe Fonteles, and Leonel Marshall. Fonteles stood out with his great spikes and the first set was cashed with an ace by Miljkovic (25-18).
Fenerbahce exploited a sloppy start by their opponents to move up 8:5 in the second set but some errors by the home side kept the score tight and shortly after the second technical time-out, Anorthosis had reduced the gap to only two points (17:15). Fenerbahce found back their best play to accelerate the pace and with the help of their opponent’s errors pocketed also the second set (25-20) with an attack killed by middle blocker Emin Gök.
After clearly dominating the game in the first and second set, Fenerbahce relaxed a bit and this resulted into the first lead for Anorthosis at the first technical time-out of the third set (8:7); however, once the match re-started, Fenerbahce got back on track and another hit killed by their spiker Zafer Ceyhun Tendar made it 15:11 for the home side. The head coach of Anorthosis, Marios Kontos, stopped the game without waiting for the second mandatory stop but Fenerbahce showed their supremacy in attack and defense to comfortably sail to the final 25-15 and 3:0 waiting for the return game coming up next Saturday, October 26, in Limassol.
Ivan Miljkovic top scored in the end with 17 points well supported by Fonteles and Marshall who registered 15 and 10 respectively. Valentyn Burkovskyi and Andrii Muravchykov, both born in the Ukraine, paced Anorthosis with 8 apiece.
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