All Final Four tickets to be awarded this week in #CLVolleyW

Three away wins and one home win – all in straight sets – were recorded in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the CEV Champions League Women, with comebacks needed by the losing teams in order to mount a challenge in a quest for their tickets for the Final Four of the European premium competition.

With the last act of the competition scheduled in Istanbul, there will surely be a Turkish side between the last teams standing in the battle for the trophy, as the winner of the crunch clash between VakifBank Istanbul and Fenerbahçe Medicana İstanbul will be qualifying for the Final Four.

In the first leg, Fenerbahçe Medicana İstanbul took a clear 3:0 win against their Turkish rivals, as they got closer to rewrite history, after being eliminated in all the previous five knockout ties against VakifBank.

However, the first leg saw a clear domination from Fenerbahçe, which won all the three sets played in the VakifBank Sport Sarayi in Istanbul, 25:21; 25:23 and 29:27. Arina Fedorovtseva scored 18 points, while Melissa Vargas added 14 points in Fenerbahçe’s clear win.

“We are excited for these matches. This year in particular, we have a special excitement, the Final Four will be in Istanbul. We really want to lift that cup in front of our fans. For the last 2-3 years, we have always come back from the golden set in the Champions League semi-final match, so this is a plan for us. This year, we really have a different desire than usual, I hope we will win the cup at the end of this path. We are working for this,” said Fenerbahçe ‘s Aslı Kalaç.

The two sides also met in the 2022/23 semi-finals, with Fenerbahçe taking a 3:0 win in the first leg, only for VakifBank to push the doubleheader into a golden set with a 3:0 away win, which they took, 15:12. However, Fenerbahçe won the last two home matches against their rivals, 3:1 and 3:1, with the most recent win coming on 9 February, one month ago.

Reigning champions A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano are now on a 43-match winning streak this season in all competitions, with a zero drawn into the loss column, after they secured a 3:0 win against Developres Rzeszów in the first leg of the quarter-finals and a 3:0 win against Bergamo in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Italian league play-offs.

With three wins against the Polish side this season – two of them coming in the 4th round – Conegliano will be overwhelming favourites to clinch another win and progress to the Final Four, after a clear 3:0 win in the first leg, 25:22; 25:17 and 29:27.

Zhu Ting had 18 points, Gabi Guimaraes added 15 points and Isabelle Haak, Conegliano’s top scorer this season, had 12 points in their team’s win in the first leg and are expected to bring more to the table in the second leg, ensuring safe passage to the Final Four, where Conegliano can secure back-to-back trophies in the European premium competition.

Another Italian side, Savino Del Bene Scandicci, is another clear favourite to clinch a Final Four berth, after their 3:0 win against PGE Grot Budowlani Łódź in the first leg of the quarter-finals.

Scandicci are the only side to win all their matches so far – seven – in straight sets, and the second Italian side to secure this milestone, after A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano did it in the 2020/21 season.

The Italian powerhouse needs only two sets to progress to the next phase, as they have one of the most prolific scorers of the season – Ekaterina Antropova – in their ranks, with Antropova shining in the first leg, which they won by dominating all sets, 25:22; 25:22 and 25:21. Antropova had 19 points in the match to maintain her excellent average of 6.5 points per set scored.

“The goal is to take a step further towards the Champions League Final Four, we did it even if with some inaccuracies, especially in defense. Beyond the inaccuracies we still managed to bring home the first step of this quarter-final,” said Scandicci’s coach, Marco Gaspari, after the first leg.

The fourth quarter-final this season is also probably the most balanced one, between last season’s runners-up, Numia Vero Volley Milano, and Eczacibasi Istanbul. In the first leg, the Italian side won 3:0 and a scenario with three Italian sides in the Final Four is very much underway.

It was a dominating performance from Milano, which took the win with a fantastic 49% attacking efficiency and 17 points from Paola Egonu, on the way to a 25:18, 25:23 and 25:14 win.

“The away match will start from0-0 and it will be played in a completely different environment. It was great to play with our fans here, they were very precious for us tonight. We want to improve even more, make ourselves conscious of this beautiful performance and do another great job in Istanbul to complete the job we started today," said Stefano Lavarini, Milano’s coach, after the first leg.

Eczacibasi reached the penultimate act of the competition in each of the past two seasons, while Milano have secured a semi-finals berth only in the previous season, when they qualified for the Super Finals and conceded the title against A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano.