Vakifbank Istanbul, the Champions League winner, battled hard for another big cup of this season, but lost in great semifinal game against Eczacibasi.
After four consecutive losses in Champions League quarter finals and Turkish League, this has been the first victory for Eczacibasi against Vakifbank after a long time.
Pre-game relationships between both teams have benn quite tense, as Vakifbank coach Guidetti blamed Eczacibasi manager of offering transfers to his players and breaking their concentration.
Frenetic audience of 3000 ´orange-white´ and ´red-white´ fans saw an ´early finals´ with both teams stars playing pretty well. The Champions League MVP Malgorzata Glinka (23 points) showed her usual tough attacks, supported by teammates Jelena Nicolic and Maja Poljak. Eczacibasi answered by points of Mirka Francia (21 points), Turkish national team star Neslihan Darnel (16 points) and Antonella Del Core (14 points).
Vakifbank started better and took the first set 25:20, but then, despite of good reception, started to have problems with distribution of sets. In 4th set, Vakifbank was leading 10:6, but then Eczacibasi made series of 6 points to 16:10. Vakifbank coach Guidetti tried to change attackers and setter, but Eczacibasi retained the advantage until the tight end of the match.
„Every time we had lost against Vakifbank, so it was great for us to win this match, especially before the play-off ,” said Eczacibasi coach Lorenzo Micelli who thus mentioned that Vakifbank will be also play-off opponent of his team this year.
In the first semifinals, Nilüfer Belediyesi easily eliminated Iller Bankasi and advanced to the final which will be played on Sunday evening.
Iller Bankasi –Nilüfer Belediyesi 0:3 (25:12, 25:20, 25:14)
match report
Eczacıbaşı VitrA – Vakıfbank GSTT 1:3 (25:20, 19:25, 16:25, 23:25)Eczacibasi: Francia 21, Darnel 16, Del Core 14, Vakifbank: Glinka 23, Nicolic 13, Poljak 13
match report
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