Women's Club World Championship 2022

Boskovic and Eczacibasi win titanic league duel with Egonu and VakifBank

The World Championship MVP hammers four aces against the VNL MVP’s team as the two Turkish teams clash ahead of the Club World Champs

Published 10:32, 17 Nov 2022

Tijana Boskovic and her Eczacibasi teammates celebrate (source: eczacibasisporkulubu.org.tr)

The two Istanbul powerhouses which will take part in the Club World Champs 2022 in Antalya from December 14 through 18 went head to head in a Turkish league clash on Wednesday evening. The team led by Serbian star opposite Tijana Boskovic, Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul mastered a straight-set win over defending world, continental and national champions VakifBank Istanbul, led by Italian star opposite Paola Egonu.

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While the Most Valuable Players of the two major national team competitions this year and arguably the two best point-makers in the world engaged in another scoring race with each other, hosts Eczacibasi claimed a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20) victory in 75 minutes to remain at the top of the Sultanlar Ligi standings, unbeaten in five matches since the start of the season. Opponents VakifBank, on the other hand, suffered their first defeat and dropped to fourth place on a 4-1 win-loss record.

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Boskovic, who was the MVP of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championships in both 2018 and 2022, fired four aces towards the match high of 22 points. She scored the other 18 in attack at a 49% success rate. Eczacibasi’s Russian international Irina Voronkova contributed another 13 points, while the other outside hitter of the team, Turkish international Hande Baladin added 12 points, registering 71% success in offence.

On the other side of the net, Paola Egonu, who was named MVP of VNL 2022, was VakifBank’s most productive player with 18 points, including a kill block and 17 spikes at a 47% success rate in attack. Her teammate in the middle, Turkish international Zehra Gunes was the best blocker of the match with four stuffs.

Paola Egonu in action (source: eczacibasisporkulubu.org.tr)

The two teams are in different pools at the upcoming Club World Championship, but they could lock horns again in the later stages of the competition. Tournament hosts Eczacibasi will compete against Brazil’s Dentil Praia Clube Uberlandia and Italy’s Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano in Pool A, while VakifBank will face Kazakhstan’s Kuanysh Petropavl and Brazil’s Gerdau Minas Belo Horizonte in Pool B.