Unexpected Failure From Fenerbahce in Türkiye, Clear Victories in Italy and Romania

This weekend, the top teams once again focused on their domestic games, after completing the second leg of the #CLVolleyW group stage with victories. Each of the CEV Champions League Volley squad got into the court as the pre-favorites, and things went quite well in Italy and Romania, while Fenerbahce received a shocking defeat in Türkiye.

The undefeated leader of the #CLVolleyW Group D, Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce Medicana Istanbul visited Zeren Spor in the ninth round of the Turkish Sultanlar League. The first set was quite challenging, but the Fenerbahce side found the 1-0 lead by playing a dominant game at the end of the set. Starting from the second one, the host team undoubtedly began to play at a higher level and won the next two. Italian expert Marco Fenoglio’s squad managed to extend the match to the decisive tie-break, but in the end, they left the court with only one point and a shocking loss (2-3: 27-25, 12-25, 24-26, 25-20, 11-15).

Polish Magdalena Stysiak became the top scorer of Fenerbahce with 15 points, followed by captain Eda Erdem Dundar (12 points) and Brazilian promising star Ana Cristina De Souza (11 points). The Serbian internationals on the winning side clearly shone with their performances: The 20-year-old outside hitter Alexandra Uzelac tallied 28 points in total, while her compatriot, Brankica Mihajlovic led her team with 27 points.

The other #CLVolleyW clubs of the country completed the weekend in the best way: Both Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul and VakifBank Istanbul won their games without any difficulties and secured their three points. Due to this unexpected defeat, Fenerbahce also lost their top places in the charts, and fell down to third place, behind their biggest opponents.

The Italian CEV Champions League teams maintained their top places in the most elite tournament of the continent with straight-set victories. Keeping the same momentum, they also played quite well in the ninth week of the Italian Serie A1: A. Carraro Imoco Volley Conegliano took a comfortable victory in three sets, while Numia Vero Volley Milano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci closed this round with wins by 3-1. The top three positions remain the same as well. Keeping their perfect record, Imoco continued to stand at the top of the overall standings, followed by Milano and Scandicci, respectively.

After beating BKS Bostik Bielsko-Biala with a superior game in #CLVolleyW Group E, C.S.O. Voluntari 2005 faced Targoviste in the eighth round of the Romanian Divizia A1. Except for the first set, the Voluntari side played a better game and became victorious in four sets (3-1: 22-25, 25-12, 25-18, 25-18). Thanks to this victory, Voluntari preserved their third rank and chased the top two.

This weekend was expected to be comfortable and each #CLVolleyW squads were aware that any shocking result may result in a drop in standings. Being aware of that, all Italian and Romanian squads completed the weekend with wins, while Fenerbahce’s failure against their rival made them fall behind the other elite squads. Now, it is time to get ready for the upcoming challenges and improve performances, to reach the goals both at the domestic and continental level.