10/12/2015 21:15
Azeryol BAKU upset Finnish champs with three-set victory
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women
Salo, Finland, December 10, 2015. Azerbaijan’s Azeryol BAKU cruised to a 3:0 victory (25-16, 25-19, 25-23) on Thursday night in their first matchup with Finland’s LP SALO scheduled for the Round of 16 of the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup – Women. The home heroines played with a lot of courage and determination but ended up losing in only three sets, with the third and final being the closest one. Azeryol, on the other hand, definitely got the right edge for the return match which is due to follow next week in Baku.
LP SALO even claimed a 16:9 lead in the third set but could not stand the comeback of their opponent which eventually flipped the charts around and finished it off at 25-23.
The Finns played without their first setter Tatsiana Mysliuchyk who recently suffered a knee injury and will be out for the remainder of the season. Their second setter Sari Tauriainen performed well from time to time but she still lacks experience as she has not played that much even in the national league.
“I hope and I believe that this is not our real level,” said LP SALO coach Kari Raatikainen after the match. “We can play better than we did tonight. Towards the end of the third set we made many easy mistakes in reception. Azeryol is a very experienced team and they could read our game very well.”
Serbian-born middle blocker Dubravka Rakic paced LP SALO with 11 points whilst USA opposite Stephanie Niemer topped the scorers’ chart for Azeryol with 16 points.
“This was not our best performance and I am only satisfied with the result,” said the young mentor of Azeryol, Ziya Rajabov. “I do not want to single out any player for her individual performance since Volleyball is a team sport and it is all about team work.”
Click here for more info including detailed stats of the match
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