In the last round of the regular season, Arkas Spor beat Fenerbahçe in a head-on duel for the second-seed by a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-16), moving up from the fourth place and squeezing out the rivals to No.3. Both teams finished with a 15-7 record but with Arkas having one point more than the rivals (47 to 46). The win of Arkas might be considered even more valuable as they achieved it without their best scorer this season, the Cuban Michael Sánchez Bozhulev. In his absence, Gökhan Gökgöz topped Arkas with 14 points.
Halkbank, who secured top-seed earlier (20-2; 56 points) scored the 18th win in a row in Efeler Ligi, beating No.4 Ziraat Bankası (15-7; 44 points) for the second time this season – 3-1 (23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 30-28). The Serbian Nemanja Petrić scored 21 points for Halkbank, while Burutay Subaşı made 71% reception (24 digs, 4 errors). The Pole Dawid Konarski stood out in Ziraat with 18 points (3 aces), finishing the regular season as the best scorer in the tournament (406 points overall). Interestingly, Konarski was more efficient in the matches which his team lost.
Playoff quarterfinal matchups (higher seeds will have the home-court advantage):
No.1 Halkbank vs. No.8 Afyon Bld. Yüntaş
No.2 Arkas Spor vs. No.7 Maliye Piyango
No.3 Fenerbahçe vs. No.6 Galatasaray
No.4. Ziraat Bankası vs. No.5 İstanbul BBSK
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our TUR National Championship 2017/2018 / Male / Seniors page.
SUBSCRIBE to have full access to WoV PROFILES, STATS, and WoVVIDEO.
Discover what’s new in the volleyball world.