Russia – Turkey
Right from the start of the match, Turkey played very aggressively. With great serves and solid defense, the young Turks quickly broke the Russian spirit. Turkey’s Ada Germen was brilliant on serve, and she guided her team to an early 15-4 lead. The Russian girls couldn`t recover, and Turkey finished in style 25-13.
In the middle of the second set, Russia slowly but steadily raised their game level, and the teams entered the finishing stage of the second period with equal chances at 19-19. The tall Russian ladies gained a three-point lead at 22-19, but Turkey bounced back to one point at 21-22. Russia’s head coach Yury Shchuplov called his girls off court to reorganize tactics. It helped as Turkey found no solutions to catch the East Europeans.
Even though Russia never gave up, the Turkish express moved too fast today. The Turks rapidly recovered from their set loss and dominated set No. 3 and 4 masterfully. For Russia it was the second consecutive setback after their 2:3 defeat against Germany yesterday.
Catma Sahin, Turkey Head Coach: “This was an extremely important match for us. Yesterday we also had a big match, but this one was crucial. However, we must continue winning if we want to be on top.“
Russia Head Coach Yury Shchuplov: “We struggled today with reception and that was the main reason for our loss. We have to train more, and hopefully we`ll do better in the following matches.“
To read more volleyball news from this competition click on Youth European Championship 2013 F.
