Istanbul, Turkey, March 12, 2015. VakifBank lost the return match in the big Istanbul derby with Fenerbahce Grundig, but emerged as an overall winner of this Playoff 6 all-Turkish clash to advance to the semifinals of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women. Giovani Guidetti’s team came back from two sets down to tie the score and secure a spot in the Final Four in Szczecin before losing the tie-breaker for the final 2:3 (20-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15, 12-15).
At 6-5 was the only moment VakifBank was in the lead during the first set. With great effort in attack, the Yellow Angels dominated to win by 25-20 with Meliha Ismailoglu scoring the last point. The second set was competitive only through 9-9. After that, Fenerbahce once again took the lead and with great blocking and serving gradually widened the gap to another 25-20.
In a rollercoaster third set, it was time for VakifBank to show some excellent blocking. In the meantime, Marcello Abbondanza’s players increased the number of unforced errors and after 12-12 allowed VakifBank to take the initiative and win by 25-21. The fourth set would be decisive for qualification to Szczecin or prompting a golden set, but only on VakifBank’s side the team seemed eager to take control of its own destiny. With effective play in blocking and defence, the visiting squad broke away to win by an impressive 25-15 and reserve its ticket to the Final Four.
When it was already too late, in the fifth set, the Yellow Angels once again showed more precision in its game to recover from an early deficit and turn the score around to 15-12.
Yeon-Koung Kim piled up 27 points for Fenerbahce to top the scorers’ chart of the match. Sheila Castro was VakifBank’s best scorer with 20 points.
Eda Erdem Dundar, player of Fenerbahce: “I congratulate VakıfBank! I hope that a Turkish team wins this trophy. Good luck to all of them.”
Gozde Sonsirma, player of VakifBank: “I congratulate both teams! Both Fenerbahce and VakifBank should play in the Final Four, but because of the rules this was not possible. I hope we will win the Champions League.”
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