Istanbul, Turkey, February 25, 2014.  Fenerbahce SK. ISTANBUL managed an impressive 3:0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-16) win over Azeryol BAKU in their first leg semifinal match in the 2014 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women.  The Turkish powerhouse cruised to the victory against the team from Azerbaijan in 72 minutes and made a giant step towards reaching the grand finale of the competition.

The match was straightforward and completely one-sided.  Despite performing very well on the block, Azeryol was not allowed to take the lead even for a moment in any of the three sets.  Fenerbahce’s fantastic serving demolished the opponents’ reception and contributed as many as 11 aces to the victory. The Turkish team also performed far better in attacking and reception and celebrated a well-deserved success.

Fenerbahce started the game with Aneta Havlickova’s spike and showed some great offensive play through the first technical time-out (8-2). Azeryol forced Fenerbahce to make some mistakes to narrow the gap (8-5). The Yellow Angels broke away again with Kim Yeon-Koung’s and Aneta Havlickova’s effective play (16-11).  At the end of first set, the visiting team made many mistakes, especially in reception and Fenerbahce took the first set comfortably (25-14).

In the second set Azeryol showed some great defensive play and the two teams exchanged points through the first technical time-out (8-7).  After that, Eda Erdem Dündar’s great serving gave Fenerbahce a solid advantage (16-8).  For the rest of the time, the home team attacked mainly through Fernanda Garay in the middle and Azeryol could not find an answer (25-12).

In the third set, the Azeri side’s hits became more effective with Polina Rahimova on court.  But the home heroines still took an 8-5 lead by the first technical time-out. Annerys Vargas Valdez’s kill block gave Azeryol some hopes (11-10), but then Christina Bauer was excellent in finding the free spaces on the opponent’s side (16-12).  After the time-out, the Yellow Angels reflected the fans’ enthusiasm for the win.  Kim showed a fantastic serving performance and made the last four points of the game from behind the serving line (25-16).

The Korean superstar topped the scorers’ chart of the game with 16 points.  Aneta Havlickova added another 11.  Polina Rahimova, who entered the court as a substitute player in the first two sets and played among Azeryol’s starting seven only in the third, still became her team’s most prolific player with 8 points.