VakifBank to defend its Champions League title in Sunday’s final
Baku, March 15 (AZERTAC). The reigning champions of VakifBank Istanbul secured an opportunity to defend their title in tomorrow’s final of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women in Baku. The team of head coach Giovanni Guidetti won the all-Turkish semifinal against city rivals of Ecsacibasi VitrA Istanbul by 3:1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17) cheered on by 6000 volleyball spectators at the magnificent Crystal Hall in the Azerbaijani capital.
The two teams approached the beginning of the match very carefully, looking for each other’s weak spots. The score remained tight through 13-13, after which Ecsacibasi took more permanent control of the scoreboard. It was the more successful spiking, especially by captain Esra Gumus Kirici, that helped the team break away, but it was Andressa Picussa’s kill block that finished it off at 25-19 in favor of Ecsacibasi.
Lorenzo Micelli’s squad kept the momentum to take a 3-point lead at 4-1 and then at 8-5 in the second set. Despite the great spiking efforts by Neslihan Demir and Esra Gumus Kirici, Ecsacibasi started committing too many unforced errors to allow VakifBank to turn things around. Prolific attacking by Christiane Furst and better blocking and serving performance helped the incumbent champions take the lead and maintain it through the end. The final 25-19 was shaped up by a hit from VakifBank’s captain Gozde Sonsirma. During this set VakifBank’s setter Naz Aydemir Akyol sustained an injury and was forced to leave the game.
The third set was a rollercoaster affair. First, VakifBank gained advantage, then Ecsacibasi went ahead only to let the opponent take a 1-point lead at the first technical time-out. Giovanni Guidetti’s players opened the gap as far wide as 13-9, but not for long. With substitute Helena Havelkova behind the serving line, Ecsacibasi scored 4 points in a row to regain the lead at 15-14 and later extended it to 22-19, when an easy mistake in defense marked another turn of fortunes. It was time for Vakifbank’s substitute Guldeniz Onal Pasaoglu to take her turn in serving. The great defensive efforts by her team provided for some exciting long rallies and an even more exciting U-turn for the eventual 25-22 VakifBank’s way.
This gave VakifBank the needed psychological advantage to completely dominate the fourth set. After a 1-3 lag at the beginning, the champions scored four points in a row to take a 5-3 lead and never trailed again. Substitute player Polen Uslupehlivan displayed her scoring abilities with an 8-point contribution to the final 25-17 that sent VakifBank celebrating.
Ecsacibasi captain Esra Gumus Kirici became the top scorer of the match with 22 points. Neslihan Demir added another 17 to the team’s tally, as many as the winning team’s most prolific player Carolina Costagrande.
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