Imoco Dominated Scandicci in The Match Of The Weekend, Shocking Defeat For VakifBank in Türkiye

This weekend, there was an abundance of challenging volleyball battles across the continent, and the biggest #CLVolleyW favorites took the court with aiming victories. While most of them achieved their goals such as Conegliano, Fenerbahce, and Rzeszow, VakifBank suffered an unexpected defeat, and Lodz said goodbye to the Polish Cup.

Without a doubt, one of the most anticipated clashes of the weekend was held in Italy, where two CEV Champions League Volley participants, A. Carraro Imoco Volley Conegliano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci faced off in the 19th round of the Italian Serie A1. Starting from the first ball to the last, there was a clear and huge dominance from the Conegliano side, and they easily became victorious in straight sets (3-0: 25-21, 25-14, 25-13).

Brazilian international Gabriela Braga Guimaraes was selected as the MVP of the game with her 16-point performance, including four blocks. Chinese outside hitter Zhu Ting (17 points) and Swedish superstar Isabelle Haak (16 points) also led their team to a huge victory. Ekaterina Antropova and Linda Nwakalor produced 11 points apiece on the losing side.

Thanks to this clear victory, Conegliano side maintained their unbeaten and perfect record: By winning all their 18 games and collecting all 54 points, they completed the weekend at the top of the charts once again. Scandicci also remained in the vice-leader position despite the loss, but now the gap between third-placed Novara has decreased to four points only.

It was a relatively comfortable weekend for two of the Turkish powerhouses since both Fenerbahce Medicana Istanbul and Eczacibasi Dynavit Istanbul overpowered their opponents in three sets. On the other hand, this was not the case for VakifBank: They met Zeren Spor in the 17th leg of the Turkish Sultanlar League. Both teams had so many ups and downs throughout the game, and the score was tied to 2-2 after four sets. In the decisive tie-break set, both teams put a great effort into the court, but in the end, VakifBank could not resist Zeren’s ambition and received a 2-3 (25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 18-25, 13-25) defeat.

Croatian opposite Samantha Fabris (24 points, including four blocks and one ace), and Serbian promising talent Aleksandra Uzelac (21 points with two blocks and two aces) were highlighted by their performances on the winning side. Canadian opposite Kiera Renee Van Ryks’s 21-point performance was not enough for VakifBank to victory. VakifBank kept their third position in the charts by the completion of the round, but now the gap between them and leader Fenerbahce is six points.

The quarterfinal matches of the Polish Cup took place this weekend, and two CEV Champions League Volley contenders, Developres Rzeszow and BKS Bostik Bielsko-Biala booked their spots in the semifinal without any difficulties. PGE Grot Budowlani Lodz; however, said farewell to the tournament, because of the five-set loss against LKS Commercecon Lodz (2-3: 25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 14-25, 13-15). The semifinals and final battle will be played in February, and this year’s Polish Cup champions will become clear.

This weekend went quite well for two of the three #CLVolleyW participants in each country, Italy, Türkiye, and Poland. While Conegliano defeated Scandicci without experiencing any challenges, VakifBank and Lodz also completed the weekend with failures. Now, all teams begin to focus on their closure matches of the #CLVolleyW group stage and aim to advance to the quarterfinals in the best place.