Azerbaijan rank fourth as Turkey claim EuroVolley bronze
Baku, October 1, AZERTAC
Turkey stormed to a 3-1 victory (22-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-8) over Azerbaijan to celebrate their third European Championship medal in history - to go with the silver and bronze they won in 2003 and 2011, respectively. This is quite an achievement for a team, which had such a rough start to the tournament. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, have to be content with fourth place, thus equalling their result from the 2005 edition and what they achieved at the European Games two years ago as well.
After their ‘heart-breaking’ loss to the Netherlands in the semi-finals, Azerbaijan took for one last time to the court of the iconic National Gymnastics Arena, chasing their first-ever European Championship medal. Turkey were the opponent standing on the other side of the net - and Azerbaijan had to erase memories from two painful losses they had suffered to the ‘Sultans of the Net’ when hosting the inaugural European Games in 2015. Back then, Turkey won 3-0 in the pool and 3-2 in the semis, before taking gold - as Azerbaijan had to be content with a disappointing fourth place.
The match started at a relatively slow pace with either side able to break away until Azerbaijan finally did so shortly after the second technical time-out (19-16) with the help of their star player Polina Rahimova. Turkey responded swiftly (20-19) but Azerbaijan did not tremble and resumed their march towards a 25-22 win.
Turkey rushed to a 6-2 lead in the early stages of the second set before two consecutive aces by Rahimova levelled the count at 7-7. Azerbaijan eventually edged ahead at 9-8 on a second tempo attack by middle blocker Kseniya Poznyak but Turkey were up to the challenge - as Gözde Kirdar and Neriman Özsoy set the tempo of their game and helped level the match (25-21) and stay in contention for the third European Championship medal in Turkish history.
Turkey had a rough start to the tournament last week losing two matches in a row in their pool before pulling out a 3-1 victory over Ukraine to stay ‘alive’ in the competition, but they improved with every match - with the only exception being Saturday’s semi-final with Serbia - and that was evident in the bronze medal game as well. A sound overall performance produced a compelling 16-8 lead for the players coached by Giovanni Guidetti as Azerbaijan, on the other hand, made too many mistakes and even Rahimova was far less effective than earlier in the match. Azerbaijan’s coach Faig Garayev substituted Rahimova and a few more players from his starting six - but to no avail as Turkey comfortably cruised to a 25-14 win.
At this stage, Azerbaijan had no other option than to fight back if they wanted to fulfil their dream of a historic European Championship medal on home soil - and the audience was likely to play a role as well in an effort not to miss out on such opportunity. However, the players of Azerbaijan looked kind of ‘frozen’ as they quickly trailed 0-5 in the fourth set and even the loud support from the stands could not help the hosts change the course of the game (2-8). Turkey realised they were getting closer to the achievement of their goal and continued to push as much as they could - and they were rewarded for their efforts as anything they attempted worked out just fine and produced a massive 25-8 score to seal their 3-1 victory.
Other news in this section
