Vakifbank bounces back in the game with a hard-earned victory over Azerrail
After dropping the last week match to Azerbaijan’s Azerrail Baku, Turkish ladies around head coach Giovanni Guidetti got back on track with return victory at home.
Vakifbank TTelekom hosted the fourth match of 2012 CEV Champions League in Istanbul on Tuesday, December 20. The match was more like a see-saw battle as both teams were tied after four-sets. A 15-point golden set was played, in order to determine the winner
of the match. Vakifbank TTelekom proved to be better and posted 3-2 (21-25, 25-14, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12) victory over Azerrail Baku.
The passionate Turkish fans played an important role in Vakifbank’s victory. They backed up the team in crucial times and helped them fight the challenge. Eventually, the team gave exactly what the home audience wanted. Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall in the
TVF Complex echoed the happy slogans of 2’600 spectators following Vakifbank’s success.
Winning captain, Gözde Kirdar Sonsirma, was pretty much excited about the feat of her team. She expressed her emotions into words in the following manner, “I can say that Vakifbank is back after this game. If we play like we did tonight, we can defeat any
team in the world.”
Using the competitive edge of previous victory, Azerrail started out well in the first set. They grabbed quick points and kept the home team behind the attack line. They led the scores up till 11-10 before Vakifbank managed to create the tie.
Furthermore, the Turk ladies went up and tried to keep the game in their hands. However, the resilient rival Baku hit back strongly and retook the lead. Afterwards, they remained ahead of Vakifbank and closed first set at 25-21.
Visiting team could not carry the momentum into second set and promptly fell down. On the other hand, raged-up Turkish team gave some hard thumping to the opponent and led all the way till end. Azerrail failed to snatch lead from Vakifbank and dropped second
set with big margin of 11 points, 14-25.
Third set featured balanced action and the score shifted up with close gaps. The situation remained undecided until Vakifbank hit the mark and secured third set, 25-23. They claimed second set in the row and jumped to 2-1 lead in the game.
In the fourth set, Azerbaijani team caught up in a flurry of mistakes. They had problems in reception and gave easy points to hosts in the beginning. Nonetheless, they gradually controlled the silly errors and eventually got better. Vakifbank simply could
not resist to Azerrail’s better status in fourth set. The visitors created the deadlock of 2-2 by winning crucial fourth frame.
Fifth decisive set put both teams to a real test of skills. Each side tried its best to make a difference but only one became successful in doing so and it was Turkey’s Vakifbank. They claimed the final set with a three-point lead (15-12) and announced match
victory.
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