Turkey’s VakifBank ISTANBUL claimed also the second round of the ‘Clash of the Titans’ with last year’s gold medallists Dinamo KAZAN of Russia and this time did it by displaying a terrific show of strength cruising to a 3:0 home victory at Burhan Felek Volleyball Hall (25-22, 25-21, 25-14) where the hosts got their sweet revenge after losing the 2014 final match to the Russian armada. VakifBank are now only one step away from making the Final Four tournament scheduled for April 4-5 in Szczecin, Poland, but will first have to edge past their arch-rivals of Fenerbahce Grundig ISTANBUL in the Playoffs 6 scheduled for early March.

After scoring a 3:2 away victory in Russia last week, this time VakifBank was clearly the dominant force as the hosts were paced by Carolina Costagrande and Robin de Kruijf with 18 and 12 points, respectively. VakifBank started out strong claiming a close first set (25-22) and then imposed their rule also on the second (25-21). Things were then easy for the hosts in set 3 which ended in a speedy 25-14 to start the celebrations together with more than 1,000 fans in attendance.

VakifBank head coach Giovanni Guidetti said: “We played a perfect game. I always try to find something we can improve on but this time I have to congratulate my players. They stayed focused and played very well in every fundamental. We showed what we are capable of tonight and this happens as long as we are focused on what we have to do. I expect a similar performance also in the matches to come especially as the next round will be tough. We will play Fenerbahce and in this competition they opt for a different composition than in the Turkish national championship where there is a limit on foreign players. However, I trust my team and believe we have what it takes to win the next matches. I would also like to thank our supporters since once again they created the best atmosphere you can get in a Volleyball game here in Turkey.”

The Italian spiker of VakifBank and top scorer of the match, Carolina Costagrande, commented: “We are evidently happy with the result and with the way the match unfolded. We performed just great tonight as a group and we showed passion and willingness to win. We did not perform well only at blocking and receiving, but also our attacks were good. We are especially happy to get our revenge from last year’s champions who had beaten us in the final.”

The mentor of the Russian team, Rishat Gilyazutdinov, said: “VakifBank is a very strong team. They have excellent players on their roster and tonight they did not give us a chance. They were good especially at serving and receiving. Their organisation and team work were good as well. As for my team, on the other hand, we had some problems in terms of interaction among the players.”