22/03/2016 20:53
Kim secures Fenerbahce’s first Final Four appearance since 2012
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Moscow, Russia, March 22, 2016. On Tuesday night Turkey’s Fenerbahce Grundig ISTANBUL secured their qualification for the Final Four of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women after taking two sets from their re-match with Russia’s Dinamo MOSCOW in the Playoffs 6 of Europe’s elite competition. Fenerbahce eventually won also the second matchup with Dinamo by 3-2 (25-19, 24-26, 19-25, 25-18, 15-9) and as a result the Turks will be making their first Final Four appearance since they won gold back in 2012. Fenerbahce also claimed silver in 2010 in Cannes, France, and bronze in 2011 when they hosted the Finals at Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall. Korean superstar Kim Yeon-Koung paced the Yellow Angels in the Russian capital with an imposing tally of 33 points.
The re-match between Dinamo and Fenerbahce attracted as many as 2,200 fans on Tuesday night and the visitors from Turkey came out with all guns blazing following their 3-1 home victory from two weeks ago as Korean superstar Kim Yeon-Koung set the pace for the Yellow Angels. Fenerbahce played very aggressively and their intensity was difficult to match for hosts Dinamo, this resulting in a 25-19 win for the team from Istanbul in the opening set.
Dinamo responded by taking the initiative in the second set but Fenerbahce were able to close in and eventually levelled the score at 24-all. However, a Russian block and an error made by the Serbian star player of Fenerbahce, Brankica Mihajlovic, ended the set 26-24 for the Russians.
The Muscovites played with a lot more confidence in the third set than they had done in the previous stages of the match. They improved their performance in all aspects of the game and this resulted in a fairly commanding 25-19 set win.
The course of the game changed again in the fourth set where Dinamo made a lot of mistakes and Fenerbahce stepped up their efforts, cruising to a 25-18 win that secured their progression to the Final Four, which will be taking place on April 9-10 in Montichiari, Italy.
As the outcome of this double clash was already decided, Russian coach Yury Panchenko decided to use some of his reserve players in the fifth set and though this was a good experience for them, they eventually lost the tie-break 15-9 to Fenerbahce.
Kim Yeon-Koung, who top scored in the match with an impressive tally of 33 points, said: “We knew it was going to be difficult but we played very well, especially in the first and fourth sets.”
“We did not play bad, but something went wrong in the fourth set,” said Dinamo coach Yury Panchenko. “I do not know what went wrong exactly, but something happened, as we kind of stopped believing in ourselves.”
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