Turkey brushes aside Croatia in final week of 2011 CEV European League Prelims - Volleyball
The Women’s National Volleyball Team of Turkey worked out a great win over Croatia on Friday, July 8, while playing at Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall in Istanbul. Turks simply amazed the audience by sending 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, and 25-20) onto the scoreboard.
With this particular win, Turkey has earned the right to play in the semi-finals of 2011 CEV European Volleyball League. The final stage of the tournament is scheduled to take place at the same Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall in Istanbul.
Turks were quick to score the early points of the game. Croatians, on the other hand, couldn’t stand in the way of the fast spikes and powerful serves. The visitors suffered and lagged behind at the first technical timeout. Turks were ahead of the Croatian
team with a lead of 3 points (8-5). The conditions were perfect for Turkey to put more pressure on opponents as the home team extended its lead to 12-6. Meanwhile, Croatian head coach called for a time out and had a word with his players.
As the play resumed after the timeout, Croatian performed better and avoided silly mistakes. The situation got better for Croatia and they struggled to catch up with the Turkish score. The scoreboard showed a tie of scores at 19-all, which was clear signal
that Croatia had the ability to make a difference in the game. However, Neriman Ozsoy of Turkey created problems for Croatian side with her accurate serves. Turkey regained control of operations and secured the first set with 3-point margin.
Turkey followed the same approach in the second set and took the score by storm. The ball frequently landed on Croatian side and created a gap of 5 points at the first technical break (8-3). Croatian progressed at snail’s pace and difference of points further
increased. Turks added quick points and jumped to 12-5 and 16-10. Better attack and defence allowed Turkey to capture second set of the match with 7 points.
Home team dominated the visitors in the third set. They built a lead of 8-5 and quickly moved onto 16-8. Croatian side relied on Ikic, who had some solid blocks, but it did not bring out the desired results. Jelena Alajbeg of Turkey enabled her team to clinch
success with her well timed shots. Finally Turkey closed the third set at 25-20 and announced match victory.
Head coach of Turkey, Marco Aurelio Motta, shared his thoughts after the match and stated, “It was not a flawless game; we made some mistakes and we will try to play with more consistency in the next matches”. Turkey will now play in the semi-finals and the
team has bright prospects of making their way to the finals.
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