Novara win the opening match of the Quarterfinals phase

Igor Gorgonzola Novara secured a valuable victory at the beginning of the Quarterfinal phase, beating Fenerbahçe Opet Istanbul on the Turkish soil in Burhan Felek hall. Both teams expected a big clash and delivered an exciting opening match of this phase of the tournament. The Turkish team was close to turn the match into a five-setter, leading throughout the fourth set, but the Italians found their way to seal the deal at the end of fourth set.

Fenerbahce put a pressure on Novara from the first moments, taking a four-point lead by the time they arrived at 16-12. The Turkish team remained cautious when Novara made a few attempts to decrease the point gap, as time out was called for Fenerbahce at 18-15. Two powerful attacks from Melissa Vargas and Brankica Mihajlovic changed the score to 21-16, giving Fenerbahce a boost to finish the set in their favour. Melissa Vargas lived up to her standard, giving her team the first set point opportunity, which Fenerbahce used winning the set 25-19. The opposite of the Turkish club scored 10 points in the opening set.

Novara wasted no time to bounce back against their Turkish opponent, going 3-7 ahead and forcing Fenerbahce to call an early time out in the second set. Micha Hancock delivered yet again with her precise serve as her two aces made it 6-15 for the Italians side and she only stepped down from the service line when Novara reached 6-18, putting Turkish in the difficult position to chase the score in this set. The Italian club tied the score, winning the set 12-25.

The third part began with a tight fight between both teams, as neither allowed their opponent to go too far ahead. Fenerbahce eventually found an edge over Novara, forcing the Italians to take a time out at 11-8. Novara quickly found a way back and a double block on Melissa Vargas brought Italians back to 12-11. This was just the beginning of Novara’s run as they continue putting a pressure on Fenerbahce, going 14-19 ahead. Another double block on Vargas gave Italians their first set point at 18-24 and Novara secured the set at 19-25.

Fenerbahce entered the fourth set, knowing this is their last chance to prolong the match and turn the result in their favour. The Turkish team opened the set with a 7-3 lead, but Novara yet again chased the score as Bosetti made it 12-11 with a great spike for Italians. Fenerbahce did not let Italians to repeat the story of the third set, as the Turkish maintained the two-point gap until 22-20, but Novara bounced back to level at 22-22. Fenerbahce called a time out and the tight fight followed, when both teams continued fighting point by point. Novara reached a match point at 25-26 and secured a victory when Melissa Vargas’s went long.

• Caterina Bosetti was named the best player of the match, scoring 18 points for Novara (16 winning spikes, 1 block and 2 ace)

• Melissa Vargas was undoubtedly the top scorer of the match, gaining 29 points for Fenerbahce (26 winning spikes, 2 blocks and 2 ace)

• Micha Hancock and Britt Herbots contributed 2 aces each for the Italian team

• Novara led in serve and block, scoring collectively 5 aces and 15 blocks to 2 aces and 10 blocks of Fenerbahce

• Nur Babat was the top scorer of the match with 3 blocks for Fenerbahce