19/12/2013 20:58
Home revenge propels Fenerbahce into Challenge Cup 1/8 finals
2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men
Istanbul, Turkey, December 19, 2013. Last week Fenerbahce Grundig ISTANBUL had lost at the tie-break to Ukraine’s Lokomotiv KHARKIV their first match for the 1/16 finals of the 2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Men but Turkey’s giant responded with a 3:1 home victory (25-21, 23-25, 25-16, and 25-19) on Thursday at the Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall to edge their opponents and get the right to continue their European campaign by playing Finland’s VaLePa SASTAMALA in the next round.
The first point of the game went to the guests from Ukraine as Emin Gök spiked out and the teams continued to make mistakes up to the first technical time-out (7:8). After that Lokomotiv imposed their pace with excellent actions in defense moving the score up to 11:15 before the second mandatory stop. However, Fenerbahce Grundig stepped up and with five points in a row claimed by their superstars Leonel Marshall and Ivan Miljkovic, flipped the charts around (16:15). As the game resumed after the second technical time-out, both head coaches – Yury Filippov and Daniel Castellani – stopped the game once more before Ivan the Scary as Miljkovic is nicknamed by the local fans took his side by the hand to cruise to the final 25-21. Miljkovic had missed the previous round in the Ukraine and his presence clearly made the difference for Fenerbahce in this home round.
In the second set Fenerbahce caught a good start before Lokomotiv responded taking control of the game mainly via Ian Iereshchenko and Georgi Bratoev. Fenerbahce did no longer perform that solidly in defense and Sergii Kapelus put an end to a very close set with his winning hit (23-25).
Fenerbahce found back their best play in the opening of the third set where they showed excellent defense to force Lokomotiv head coach Yury Filippov into an early time-out (4:1). Even though the Ukrainians fought bravely, they simply could not find a way to stop the spikes killed by Miljkovic. Though Emin Gök sprained his ankle thereby causing some concern among the home guys, Fenerbahce did not lose composure and good play by Felipe Fonteles, Kemal Kayhan and Ibrahim Basaran paved the way for a comfortable lead at the second technical time-out (16:10). After that the home heroes did not look back anymore and they rapidly cruised to the 25-16 that sealed their 2:1 lead in sets.
Fenerbahce and Lokomotiv showed excellent Volleyball in the fourth set to delight 750 fans that were in attendance at the Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall. Fenerbahce improved on their efficiency in reception and got to the front though by the slimmest margin at the first technical time-out (8:7). Their Brazilian spiker Felipe Fonteles was warned by the first referee after he objected too vehemently that the rivals were not playing correctly at the net; this did nevertheless not spark any nervousness among the guys of Fener who – anchored by the spikes of Marshall and Miljkovic, the blocks by Kayhan and Turgay Dogan, and a excellent teamwork – finished their job at 25-19 to claim their ticket to the next round.
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