02/02/2017 21:30
Galatasaray HDI sweep into the Challenge Cup quarterfinals
2017 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men
Istanbul, Turkey, February 2, 2017. Galatasaray HDI ISTANBUL hosted Fonte Bastardo AZORES from Portugal and despite some resilient defence from the away team, the hosts defeated their opponents in three straight sets (28-26, 25-22, 25-23) to progress to the quarterfinals of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men.
The first set was initially a close race before the away team started to gain the advantage. They kept their lead until right into the early 20s, when some excellent attacks took the home team to a first set victory 28-26.
Feeling confident from the first set victory, the home team continued their dominance in the second set leading for the majority of it. Despite some great variation in the Portuguese teams attacking, Galatasaray kept their few points advantage and closed out the set 25-22.
The third set was a close affair, with both teams leading for considerable chunks. Despite the best efforts of the team from the AZORES, they lost the third set and the match 25-23 and matched their 3-0 home loss score.
After the match Galatasaray HDI ISTANBUL head coach Nedim Özbey commented: "It was already clear to us that our opponent would be much more challenging in the second match of the round for their team's spirit is not the type to let any achievement slip away. This meant to go out to the court, stick to our game plan and not to give any opening for them to move up. Today we managed to follow our plan, yet our opponents were ahead at many moments throughout the match. What we did was to serve well, make less mistakes and use our attackers the best way we could. Congratulations to all my players. Now we get ready for the next round against Maccabi TEL-AVIV.”
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