Fedorovtseva’s fire not enough to prevent big THY comeback

Dominican international Gaila Gonzalez aces eight times in a three-set match

Published 02:05, 08 Feb 2022

Fedorovtseva attempts to overcome THY’s blockers (source: tvf.org.tr)

Two big all-Istanbul clashes on Monday highlighted the 18th leg of Turkey’s Misli.com Sultanlar Ligi regular season. Five aces towards a 25-point tally from Russian prodigy Arina Fedorovtseva proved insufficient for Fenerbahce Opet Istanbul to hold their ground against Turk Hava Yollari Istanbul and prevent a great opponent comeback, while Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul, with Maja Ognjenovic and Tijana Boskovic, shut out Galatasaray HDI Sigorta Istanbul.

18-year-old Fedorovtseva was on fire as Fenerbahce took a two-set lead against THY, but with American setter Lauren Carlini, a three-time FIVB Volleyball Nations League gold medallist, masterfully conducting the attackers, her team mounted a solid comeback to celebrate a 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-9) victory. Carlini’s fellow American Maddison Rishel, a two-time VNL champion, was THY’s best scorer with 16 points to her name, followed by Canadian international opposite Kiera Van Ryk with 14 and Turkish national team middle Asli Kalac with 12 (including four stuffs). Fedorovtseva produced five aces and a block towards a match-high 25 points. Her teammate and countrymate Anna Lazareva, who sat out the tie-breaker, added another 18.

That win helped THY overtake Fenerbahce in the race for the third place in the current standings. They improved to a 14-4 win-loss record and 39 points. However, Fenerbahce (13-4, 40) have a game at hand.

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Eczacibasi extended their lead at the top of the table after a 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-16) win over fifth-placed Galatasaray. Serbian star opposite Tijana Boskovic contributed 16 points to the victory. Greek international Anthi Vasilantonaki also finished with 16 on the other side of the net.

Eczacibasi top the standings on 15-3 and 45 points, followed by another Istanbul powerhouse, VakifBank (14-2, 41), who have two games at hand.

“I am very happy and proud of our game today. We put up a very good fight as a team. We were very motivated on the court because we lost our first two games against Galatasaray this season. We really wanted to win today and we enjoyed doing it in the great atmosphere created by our fans." Tijana Boskovic, opposite of Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul

In another 18th-leg fixture, Dominican Republic’s Gaila Gonzalez delivered an impressive tally of eight serving aces within the three sets of Mert Grup Sigorta Ankara’s 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-15) away victory over Nilufer Belediyespor Bursa. The Dominican international opposite added 17 spiking points at a 57% success rate in attack and a stuff block towards a total match tally of 26 points for seventh-placed Mert’s ninth win since the start of the league season.