Serbia wins first CEV Women’s European League title



In front of more than 8’000 fans, Serbia claimed the gold medal of the first CEV Women’s European League after a great comeback against host Turkey. Losing the first two sets, the Serbian team was close to a defeat, but didn’t give up and finally won the tiebreak in extremis (17-15) Sunday at Kadir Has Sports Hall in Kayseri. Bulgaria claimed bronze with a straight-set victory over France.




In presence of CEV President André Meyer, Turkish Volleyball Federation Presiden
t Erol Ünal Karabiyik and more than 8’000 vocal Turkish volleyball fans, Serbia won the first CEV Women’s European League title, beating Turkey 3:2 (32-34, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 17-15) at Kayseri’s Kadir Has Sports Hall on Sunday afternoon. Serbia started very confidently against Turkey, who struggled on serve reception and were unable to get their attack working smoothly in the very beginning of this final encounter. Serbian Nadja Ninkovic quickly added two block kills to her personal account। The noisy home crowd tried to cheer up the Turks, who recovered promptly to take a first lead at 10-9. Alexandra Petrovic scored a service ace to turn around the score again for Serbia, 13-11. It was a great volleyball show Sunday afternoon when both teams showed their best, moving the scoreboard from 20-20 to 32-32 (!). Esra hammered one over to give Turkey another set point, and when Neslihan concluded a counter attack one rally later from back row, the 8’000 fans felt like heaven, 34-32 Turkey!


However, the Serbians kept their motivation high, leading the first technical timeout of the second set 8-7. Neslihan maintained her good form as the set progressed, and Esra fired wild to keep the Turks on the pace, 16-14 Turkey at the second technical timeout. Three perfectly-timed Eda blocks in a row (!) carried the Turks to a five-point cushion, 19-14. The set was over as a contest now, and the Serbians couldn’t find any solution against the Turkish dominance। Serbian Malesevic served wide to offer the hosts a first set ball, and when Ninkovic missed the court some moments later, Turkey led 2:0.


When play resumed, Malesevic punched home a well-worked winner as the Serbians tried to step up the pace, but Turkish captain Esra Gümüs responded with some powerful spiking through the Serbian block। However, the young Serbian talents now found the better strategy, leading 16-13 at the second technical timeout. On the other hand, the Turks suddenly lost the momentum, and when Eda sent it wide at 20-23, Serbia had its first set point. Ninkovic ended it with another block, 25-20 Serbia.


The Serbians kept the upper hand in set No। 4 as they jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. They set the pace with some well-timed combinations as well as a perfectly organized defense. But a 16-9 lead was not enough. Turkish head coach Alessandro Chiappini brought in young setter Aydemir Naz for Pelin Celik, and when Most Valuable Player awarded Neslihan scored from back-row, the Turks were back at 21-22. But Serbian Andjelka Pantovic kept cool, bringing up the first Serbian set point, and, some moments later, closed it out with a burning winner from the right, 2-2.


After an early 4-0 lead for the Serbians, the teams went head to head at the start of the tiebreak through to 5-5, with Neslihan prominent for Turkey. Serbia turned round 8-5 ahead after two counter-attacks, but Turkey pulled back to 8-8, and then to 10-10. Three points later, Pantovic ended a wonderful rally for 12-11 Serbia, only for Turkey to draw level again. Both teams went again point for point with two Turkish match points at 14-13 and 15-14, before the young Serbians turned around the score with two magnificent Petrovic blocks, 17-15 and the first CEV Women’s European League title for Serbia!



“A Serbian team never gives up”, said Serbian captain Aleksandra Petrovic. “We believed in our chances and finally won, it’s a great feeling for our young team.” And Serbian head coach Zoran Kovacic added: “It was a fantastic game; there were fantastic fans and there was a fantastic Serbian team. We proved than even with a very young team we can beat big teams like Turkey. I’m very happy.”



Turkish head coach Alessandro Chiappini was “very sorry for the fans। They did a great job, but my team was not able to play our best volleyball during the whole match. The coordination between serve and block didn’t work. Furthermore, we should learn to play as a team instead of waiting for Neslihan’s points. We’ll have a lot of work to do within the next days and weeks.”


Bulgaria claimed the bronze medal with a straight-set victory over France। Even when the French team tried to react after yesterday’s inexplicable blackout during the first two sets against Serbia, Bulgaria was the better team. Especially on the net, the East Europeans showed their class to the delight of the over 3’500 volleyball fans in the Kadir Has Sports Hall in Kayseri. After two hard-fought sets (25-23, 25-23), the Bulgarians seemed to control the game in the third set (22-18). But France bounced back strongly with Christina Bauer on duty. As both teams took high risks on serving, their reception often lacked of precision. Bulgarian Eva Yaneva brought up match at 25-24 with a blistering winner from the left, before she finished it in Bulgaria’s favor with another missile through the French block. Bulgarian Radostina Chitigoi was the best scorer of the match with 14 points.

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