VakifBank on to Champions League semis for 11th time in a row

Defending women’s CEV Champions League Volley crown-holders VakifBank Istanbul advanced to the semifinals of the competition for the 11th straight season. After shutting out Italy’s Vero Volley Milan at home in the first match, the Turkish powerhouse managed another victory in the return quarterfinal in front of almost five thousand fans at the Allianz Cloud in Milan on Tuesday, this time in a hard-fought 3-2 (18-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 15-11) five-setter, coming back from a set down twice in the match.

Vero Volley’s American opposite Jordan Thompson nailed the first point of the match and started a scoring race with her Italian counterpart on VakifBank’s side Paola Egonu, each scoring seven times during the first set. The set was very competitive through 12-11 the hosts’ way, when they went on a five-point run, with outside hitter Miriam Sylla behind the serving line, to open a 17-11 advantage, a blow VakifBank never found a way to recover from. Vero Volley stayed in control through the rest of the set and won it by 25-18 with setter Alessia Orro putting away the winner.

The Italian team stormed the second set on a 3-0 run with some solid serving from American star outside Jordan Larson. But then, while VakifBank greatly reduced the unforced errors, their American outside Kara Bajema went on fire in offense, putting both power and precision into her attacks. She scored nine times in the set, including a block-out shot to bring in set point and an ace for the 25-22 set winner.

With setter Cansu Ozbay behind the end line, the Turkish side opened a 4-0 gap at the start of the third set, but Vero Volley reacted with four in a row to step in front with an 8-7 lead. Another great series of points with Sylla serving widened the gap from 15-14 to 20-14, but even that did not conclusively decide the set, as some brilliant serving from Egonu helped bring VakifBank back to within one at 20-19. In the money time, the players from Istanbul denied two set points before Thompson hammered it down for 25-22.

Still with their backs against the wall, Vero Volley fought bravely throughout the fourth set, but Egonu and her teammates proved far too strong. The home side managed to wipe out the first four-point lead VakifBank had in the set, but then the Turkish squad broke away again with their Generation O striker nailing nine points, including the last one, towards a 25-21 set win and now a safe spot among the semifinalists.

While quite naturally Vero Volley’s coach Marco Gaspari made some changes to his squad for the fifth set, VakifBank’s Guidetti decided to continue with the same starting seven. His decision paid off as they were in control for the most part of the set. Finally, Buket Gulubay came in as a substation to take the serve and immediately aced to bring in match point. Her next serve forced an overpass, which Egonu did not fail to kill for a 15-11 win.

Brilliant Paola Egonu produced and fantastic 36 points, including two aces and three blocks, to top the best scorers’ chart of the match and earn the Most Valuable Player nomination. Kara Bajema added another 19. Jordan Thompson was Vero Volley’s most prolific player with 27 points to her name, while Jordan Larson delivered 16.