Vargas spikes away in Fenerbahce’s Turkish league win

Melissa Vargas, Tijana Boskovic and Emiliya Dimitrova were on fire in the 21st leg of the Turkish women’s league regular season, producing 25+ points each and leading their teams to victories, which consolidated their positions among the top six in the standings.

Vargas, a former Cuban international who recently received Turkish citizenship, hammered out 30 points towards Fenerbahce Opet Istanbul’s 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-15) away win over Aydin Buyuksehir Belediyespor. Fed by an excellent Naz Aydemir, the 22-year-old opposite registered a 63% success rate in attack, spiking 29 points, to which she added a kill block to round off her tally.

Her 18-year-old Russian teammate, outside hitter Arina Fedorovtseva, added another 19 points, including an ace and three blocks. Experienced Turkish international middle blocker Eda Erdem impressed with six points in blocking, in addition to six points in attack at a 60% success rate and an ace towards a 13-point total tally, while her American counterpart on the other side of the net, Aydin’s middle Anna Stevenson, also hit at a high success rate of 69% and scored three stuff blocks to collect a total of 14 points.

It was Fenerbahce’s 16th win in 20 matches since the start of the Misli.com Sultanlar Ligi season. They are currently fourth on 48 points and a game in hand, just behind third-placed Turk Hava Yollari Istanbul, who are also on 48 points and a 17-4 win-loss record after Monday’s 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-14, 25-21) home victory over Nilufer Belediyespor Bursa.

Serbian star Tijana Boskovic delivered 25 points in Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul’s hard-fought, but clean-slate 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 26-24) away win over Kuzeyboru Aksaray. The opposite achieved all her scoring in offence, at a success rate of 57%. While organising Eczacibasi’s attacks as a playmaker, Boskovic’s teammate and compatriot Maja Ognjenovic did some scoring of her own, putting away three kills (60%) and two blocking points.

The win put Eczacibasi on 18-3 and 54 points. They are standing second, a win or two points short of leaders VakifBank Istanbul (19-2, 56), who also celebrated a straight-set away victory on Sunday. Led by Swedish opposite Isabelle Haak’s prolific scoring (19 points, including two aces, two blocks and 15 spikes at 54%) and Brazilian outside Gabriela Guimaraes’s outstanding reception (90% good, 60% excellent), the club world champions mastered a 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-17) shutout of Sariyer Belediyesi Istanbul. Turkish international Derya Cebecioglu chipped in with four aces, 12 spiking points (60%) and a stuff block.

Bulgarian international Emiliya Dimitrova was once again in a high scoring mode as she delivered the leg high of 33 points in PTT Spor Ankara’s hard-earned 3-2 (27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 17-15) home victory over Karayollari Ankara. PTT’s opposite tallied one ace and 32 kills in offence, while her counterpart on Karayollari’s side, Yasemin Ozel, made 28 points (25 spikes, three blocks).

On 14-7 and 38 points, PTT are sixth and the highest ranked team outside the five Istanbul giants. They are four points behind fifth-placed Galatasaray HDI Sigorta Istanbul, who also have a game in hand. On Sunday, Galatasaray managed a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 29-27) home win over Bolu Belediye Spor with 20 points (three aces, one block) from Romanian international Alexia Carutasu.

Turkish league action continues on Wednesday with a huge clash between Istanbul city archrivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.