The team had a 3-2 defeat over Allianz MTV Stuttgart in the first day of the CEV Champions League Pool D’s 2nd Round.
In our previous matchup, the Tigers showed a good fight against the German team by a five-set victory. Having played our second five-set match in Pool D once again against Stuttgart, we continue our road by 4 wins in 4 matches with 10 points.
In the first part of the first set, the team was carried by captain Tijana Boskovic who scored 10 points. However, Allianz MTV Stuttgart managed to catch us in the second part of the set. The first set which lasted 36 minutes finished 32-30 for Stuttgart.
The team came out stronger in the second set. In addition to Tijana Boskovic’s attacks, Jordan Thompson had a good share in winning the second set through her kill attacks. The match stopped for a while due to a technical problem about the lightning of the sports hall. Yet the team managed to finish the set by 25-23 after the pause.
Stuttgart stroke back in the third set, finishing it 25-22.
In the fourth set, we have done less mistakes and took our control over the game again. With the help of Chiaka Ogbogu’s attacks the team has quickly gained momentum and finished the set by 25-14.
In the tie-break, we were leading 8-4 before the side switch and managed to finish by 15-9 with the help of a solid team performance.
The Most Valuable Player of the match is our captain Tijana Boskovic who scored 37 points today. On the other hand, we scored 13 team blocks with Tijana Boskovic and Beyza Arıcı scoring 5 stuff blocks each.
On the second day of the tournament, the team will play against the hosting team Lokomotiv Kaliningrad at 19.00 local time. There will be live broadcast on EuroVolleyTV.
Post-match Interviews
Marco Motta: “From our first match in the pool, we knew that today’s match would be a tough one. Stuttgart is a strong team in defense. They did a good job in back row attacks but we managed to come out stronger through a solid block and attack performance. I think it was a good match.”
Saliha Şahin: “We’ve started the tournament with a thrilling match. We could have done less mistakes today but eventually we have managed to win. I congratulate my team mates who have fought until the last ball today.”
Allianz MTV Stuttgart – Eczacıbaşı VitrA: 2-3
Venue: Yantarny Kaliningrad
Referees: Wim Cambre (BEL), Sonja Simonovska (MNE)
Allianz MTV Stuttgart: Palleres, Lohuis, Rivers, Mlejnkova, Todorova, Papafotiou, Koskelo (L), Segura, Grozer, Kastner.
Eczacıbaşı VitrA: Beyza, Mirkovic, Thompson, Ogbogu, Boskovic, Hande, Simge (L), Saliha, Fatma, Elif.
Set Results: 2-3 (32-30, 23-25, 25-22, 14-25, 9-15)
Duration: 150 minutes (36,50,27,23,14)
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