Azerrail Baku finishes league round with win over Romania – Women’s Tournament
The preliminary round-robin of 2012 CEV Women’s Champions League rounded off on Tuesday, January 17.
The participants of the European Championship gave the last appearance in the league round of the competition. In Pool D, Azerbaijan’s Azerrail Baku contested its skills with 2004 Tomis Constanta of Romania and earned victory. The match was hosted by Azerbaijan,
while the hosts edged out visiting team in straight sets of 25-20, 25-16, and 27-25.
Victory in the last match of league round improved Baku’s record to 4-2 and helped the team to secure the second spot in pool rankings. Pereira de Souza Paulino of Baku settled for the award of Best Player of the match. She totalled 16 points and also remained
the top-scorer in the match. Rahimova Polina stayed close to her and added 15 points in Azerrail Baku’s score. On the other hand, Zakreuskaya and Vesovic of Tomis put up good effort and scored 11 points, apiece.
First set was all about Azerrail Baku as they jumped out of the gate and picked up an early lead. Baku was equipped with all necessary tools and tricks of the game.
Moreover, the home supporters backed up the team. Oksana Parkhomenko, the captain of the Azerbaijani team got injured in the first set but the game continued and Baku still managed to seize first-set win. There were actually moments in the match when Romanian
team displayed incredible volleyball and came really close to Baku.
However, the home squad proved to be better and stamped 25-20 win in the first set.
The Romanian ladies came up with strong attacks in the following set and played to their full potential. They went up on the scoreboard in first few minutes but Baku chased the score and hit the equalizer at 6-all.
The solid blocking of Elisangela Pereira barred Romanian attackers from scoring points, while killing spikes of Polina Rahimova helped Baku to put pressure on the rival side. Azerbaijan traded lead with Romania at 8-7 and then kept the momentum going until
the end. 2004 Tomis Constanta dropped the second set in row after scoring only 16 points.
Third set turned into a heated competition as visiting team applied all its forces to save the match. They attacked via Belarusian Katerina Zakreuskaya, who directed the ball in rare gaps and corners. Romania promptly earned 5-point advantage over Baku with
5-10 on board.
The 2004 Tomis dictated the pace by the second technical time-out (13:16) before Odina Aliyeva levelled the score at 17 all. American Heather Bown restored the primacy of the home team and the last rally was finished by Rahimova for an encouraging 3:0.
Azerrail Baku was moved to top slot in Pool D for a short time until Vakifbank of Turkey won against Volley Bergamo and got hold of the 1st position.
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