Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA triumph in #SuperMOTW in Warsaw

The Super Match of the Week between Projekt Warszawa and Ziraat Bankasi Ankara was expected to be a highlight of the CEV Champions League Volley 2022 rivalry on Wednesday and it totally didn't disappoint Volleyball fans who could enjoy an extremely tense four-set battle. Although, Projekt Warszawa fought really hard in front of their home crowd at Torwar Hall COS WARSZAWA, it was the Turkish side to celebrate victory in Polish capital city.

Projekt WARSZAWA (POL) vs Ziraat Bankasi ANKARA (TUR) 1-3 (21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 21-25)

From the beginning of the match Ziraat caused a lot of problems to Warszawa with their powerful service. Martin Atanasov and Wouter Ter Maat were showing their skills and being main scoring machines of Ziraat in the opening set - six and five points, respectively. However, the component which made the biggest difference was block, the team from Ankara, mainly thanks to Bedirhan Bulbul's efforts (3 stuffs), won 4-0 in this component.

Warszawa quickly learnt their lesson, and made their weak point, the strongest one in the second set. Andrea Anastasi's squad made their own block party, tallying as many as eight winning blocks - Michał Superlak, Bartosz Kwolek and Andrzej Wrona were like wall over the net, once Igor Grobelny showed his power in attack. Ziraat couldn't find any proper answer, even if they constantly chased the score. Thus, the hosts managed to tie in the Super Match of The Week.

The third set had a very competitive beginning. Neither team was able to gain a bigger advantage up until 14-14, but then with Bulbul on serve Ziraat scored four consecutive points reaching 18-14 lead and improving it further with Arslan Eksi on serving line when they jumped to 22-16 and never looked back, winning this part confidently. Eksi not only showed his setting skills, leading well-balanced game, but also scored three points himself in third set.

Having their back against the wall, Projekt Warszawa opened the fourth part with 5-1 lead, but it was quickly erased by the guests. The game was continued on point-by-point basis until the middle of the set. Then, first Warszawa took a lead at 18-15, but this small advantage was immediately made up by Ziraat. From 21-19, the team from Ankara ran away with the score with Martin Atanasov on serve, who took them to 23-20. Even if Warszawa tried their best, Ziraat didn't waste the chance to close the match and earn important three-point win. Martin Atanasov who scored match-high 16 points was named MVP of the match, the same number of points tallied also Igor Grobelny (Projekt Warszawa).

In other matches played on Wednesday, Berlin Recycling Volleys upset Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Zenit Saint Petersburg overpowered Vojvodina NS Seme, Cucine Lube Civitanova defeated OK Merkur Maribor and Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia beat AS Cannes Dragons.