Everything started well for the home side that quickly claimed a small margin via the spikes of Polina Rahimova and blocks of Heather Bown (8:4). The home heroines of Azerrail played with good confidence and set the pace also by the second mandatory stop (16:13) with Rahimova scoring the last point for the final 25-23.
Vakifbank tried to change the situation in set 2 but was not able to cope with the terrific blocks of Azerrail, with Sara Anzanello finishing it off at 25-21.
ISTANBUL was shocked by this poor start, so head coach Giovanni Guidetti made some changes in the line-up for set 3 but could not avoid a 3:0 defeat.
“We knew this was going to be a tough match and even though we won, still we have three more rounds to come” states Azerrail team captain Oksana Parkhomenko.