Baku, Azerbaijan, April 22, 2014. Rabita BAKU did it again! The squad around head coach Eldar Yusubov has won the club’s sixth consecutive title in Azerbaijan. The 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women bronze medalists continued their domination in the Azeri women’s Super League with a convincing record of three victories to none in the championship series against Azeryol BAKU, another of Azerbaijan’s participants in the latest edition of Europe’s most prestigious club competition.
Having won the triple-round-robin regular season with a 13-2 win-loss record and 38 points, 4 points clear of runner-up Azeryol, Rabita ended up in a best-of-three semifinal playoff series against archrival Azerrail BAKU. Eldar Yusubov’s girls defeated their opponents by 3:1 and 3:0 to qualify for the final. In the other semifinal, Azeryol beat the third Azeri representative in the 2014 Champions League, Igtisadchi BAKU, by 3:1 and 3:1.
In the best-of-five championship series, Rabita started off with two four-set victories over Azeryol – 3:1 (26-28, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19) and 3:1 (25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 25-19). In the third match the defending champions were even more convincing by shutting out their opponent by 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-16) with Poland’s Katarzyna Ewa Skowronska-Dolata attacking successfully for the last point of the season to get the Rabita party started.
Igtisadchi took the bronze medals after three victories (3:1, 3:0, 3:0) to none against Azerrail in the classification series for the third place.
Individual awards for the 2013-2014 season:
MVP: Aurea Cruz (Rabita / PUR)
MVP of Final: Katarzyna Ewa Skowronska-Dolata (Rabita / POL)
Best Scorer: Katarzyna Ewa Skowronska-Dolata (Rabita / POL)
Best Setter: Nootsara Tomkom (Rabita / THA)
Best Blocker: Annerys Victoria Vargas Valdez (Azeryol / DOM)
Best Server: Manon Flier (Igtisadchi / NED)
Best Spiker: Pleumjit Thinkaow (Igtisadchi / THA)
Best Receiver: Aurea Cruz (Rabita / PUR)
Best Digger: Aurea Cruz (Rabita / PUR)
Best Libero: Brenda Castillo (Rabita / DOM)
Bronze medalists Igtisadchi BAKU
Silver medalists Azeryol BAKU
2014 Azerbaijani champion Rabita BAKU