Galatasaray edge Chieri in nail-biting tie-breaker in first CEV Cup final
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Turkiye’s Galatasaray Daikin Istanbul took the lead in the women’s CEV Cup final against Italy’s Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri'76 after a dramatic tie-breaker resolution of the first-leg match played on Wednesday evening at the Gianni Asti Sports Palace in Turin. In front of almost four thousand fans cheering from the stands, the visitors brought home a 3-2 (25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 18-25, 20-18) win. The deciding return game will be played a week later, on April 8, in Istanbul.
The first set of the match was competitive only through 8-8. With Italian star outside hitter Myriam Sylla spearheading the Galatasaray offense, while opposite Alexia Ioana Cartusau scored away on all counts, the visitors ran off with a wide lead and prevailed on the way to an emphatic 25-18 win of the first set.
Chieri struck back in set two. They broke away with three points in a row for 8-5 and Galatasaray could no longer catch up. The home team’s Hungarian opposite Anett Nemeth continued with the thrive in attack she showed in the first set and, well supported by Dutch setter Sarah Van Aalen with an excellent blocking effort, she led her team to a 25-20 set win to level the match.
Assisted by the increased number of unforced errors from the Italian team, Galatasaray regained control in the third set. They started opening a gap, which reached seven points at 18-11 before Chieri attempted a comeback and got back to within three at 21-18. The Turkish team reacted with four in a row to sprint to a 25-18 finish.
It was Chieri’s turn to dominate the next set and they did so from start to finish. They found their good blocking rhythm again, while outside Stella Nervini took charge in attack. The Italian side prevailed on the way to another wide-margin close, 25-18, and rebalanced the match score again.
The tie-breaker was not only the hardest-fought set of the match, but it was pushed deep into overtime before the winners emerged. Thanks to middle Sara Alberti, Chieri continued to outperform their opponents in blocking, but the team also continued to make far too many mistakes, which Galatasaray took good advantage of. The gap never exceeded two points one way or another while the lead went back and forth. In the money time, Galatasaray saved four Chieri match points before stepping in front. The home team denied Galatasaray’s opportunity to close the match, but on the second, the Turkish team could celebrate victorious with a nail-biting 20-18.
22-year-old Alexia Carutasu was the best scorer of the match with 28 points towards Galatasaray’s success and was honored with a well-deserved Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. She fired three aces and raised two kill blocks. Myriam Sylla added another 16 points, while Chinese middle Wang Yuanyuan chipped in with 11. Anett Nemeth was Chieri’s most prolific scorer with 23 points. 22-year-old Stella Nervini and her cross-court teammate Laura Kunzler of Switzerland put away 16 and 13 points, respectively, while German middle Anastasia Cekulaev produced three aces and two kill blocks and also finished in the double digits with 11 points.
Stella Nevrini“It's a shame about the result, but it's understandable. We're in the first game of a very important final, and they're a very strong team. We fought until the end against a Galatasaray team that came here really aggressive, and they really put us in trouble with their defense and with their serving. We weren't the best, but we were good at staying up there somehow. In the end, it was just a matter of details, and they were better and more clinical when it came to putting the ball down.”
Outside hitter of Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri'76