Turkey Beats Russia 3-1, Gets Very Close To Gloria Cup Title

2018 GLORIA VOLLEYBALL CUP (WOMEN)

• August 23rd-25th, 2018
• Gloria Sports Arena, Belek, Antalya, Turkey
• Tournament Central
• #GloriaCup
• Day 1

Italy’s woes continued during Day 2 of the Gloria Cup, as the team was knocked out of title contention in the competition, with 2 straight losses. The home-team Turkey, with its second win in 2 days, now has one hand in the trophy and only needs to beat Italy in the last round to secure a gold medal. Here is the day’s recap:

Turkey x Russia

Turkey built on its day 1 win against Azerbaijan with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 18-25 and 25-15) win against Russia and now lead the competition. Hande Baladin led the way with 15 points (12/28) and was named the MVP of the match. Natalya Goncharova had 20 points in the losing effort.

Scoring Tally

Turkey: Ozbay 2, Baladin 15 (attack 12/28), Ismailogly 8, Boz 15 (attack 12/28), Dundar 13, Gunesh 7, Sebnem (l), Sarioglu (l), Aridji, Ercan, Akin 1, Karakurt .

Russia: Korolev 3, N. Goncharova 20 (attack 19/39), Startseva (captain), Fetisova 8, Voronkov 9 (attack 7/18), Parubets 10 (attack 8/29), Talysheva (l), Galkina ), Krotkova 4, Romanov, Lubushkin 2, Small 2, Kotikova 5. Did not play: E.Efimova, Lazarenko.

Post match reactions:

“It was an important match for us because we did not get the result we wanted when we were playing with our rival earlier this season. I’m glad we won. Particularly, my players performed well in the block and defense today.” – Giovanni Guidetti, Turkey’s head coach

“Today we had an important victory against a strong team in Russia. It is very important for us to win such matches in preparation for the World Championship. We are happy to win.” – Turkey’s Hande Baladin, MVP of the match

Italy x Azerbaijan

Italy fell once again, this time to Azerbaijan, 3-0 (19-25, 22-25, 22-25). Polina Rahimova led the way with 14 points, while Sylvia Nwakalor had 11 points in the losing effort. Paola Egonu, still not in perfect playing condition, did not play.

Scoring Tally

Italy: Nwakalor 11, Ortolani 10, Fahr 5, Lubian 7, Cambi 2, Guerra 7, Libero: Parochial, Egonu 1, Bosetti 2, Danesi, Chirichella, Malinov. Ne: De Gennaro, Sylla. All. Mazzanti.

Azerbaijan: Abdulazimova 8, Bayramova 7, Rahimova 14, Habibova 3, Samadova 7, Karimova 5, Libero: Karimova Y, Yagubova, Gurbanova. Ne: Hasanova, Matiasovska, Zhidkova. All. Garayev

Standings

1. Turkey – 2-0 (6)
2. Russia – 1-1 (3)
3. Azerbaijan – 1-1 (3)
4. Italy – 0-2 (0)

Previous Matches

• Russia – Italy – 3: 1 (18:25, 25:16, 25:17, 25:17)
• Turkey – Azerbaijan – 3: 0 (25:19, 25:23, 25:18)

Next Round (25 August)

• Russia – Azerbaijan
• Turkey – Italy