Volleyball, Conegliano feat: Imoco beats the invincible Eczacibasi

The roar of the panthers shakes Antalya and the Turkish federation, which would have wanted both of its formations in the final of the Club World Cup. Conegliano beats Eczacibasi for the fourth consecutive time in direct matches and awaits the winner of Minas-Kuanysh for tomorrow’s semi-final at 2.30 pm. Boskovic and her companions will instead deal with Paola Egonu’s Vakifbank at 18.00. Both coaches change compared to the debut match. Santarelli inserts Lubian in place of Squarcini and confirms Wolosz, Haak, De Kruijf, Cook, Plummer and De Gennaro. Akbas leaves Ognjenovic and Heyrman on the bench, inserting Sahin as director and Arici in the center, together with Boskovic, Baldain, Voronkova, Jack-Kisal and Akoz. The start is the best with Haak blocking Boskovic three times, De Kruijf cutting the Turkish defense in two with fasts, De Gennaro defending everything, Cook and Plummer good at playing with Eczacibasi’s block. Wolosz also triggers Lubian and deploys with great accuracy. Eczacibasi, with the change in direction, suffers from the absence of its Serbian setter. Conegliano pushes as in the best days and defuses Boskovic with excellent defenses and a penetrating and annoying joke for the landlords. The tigers are unable to play and are also subjected to the yellow-blue wall (5). The panthers make little mistakes and always keep the set in hand (10-5, 19-10). Akbas revolutionizes the sextet and returns to the steps for the second set, which opens on the opposite scenario. Eczacibasi changes pace and it is Conegliano that suffers. Boskovic lights up and the initial 1-5 quickly becomes 3-9. Prosecco Doc Imoco is unable to play with the external forwards and relies on De Kruijf and Lubian. The Piedmontese power plant, making its world debut, makes itself felt at the service and at the block. Plummer is also active and from 10-16 we arrive at 15-17, with just a point from Haak. In the final Conegliano made too many mistakes (twice on serve), not so Eczacibasi who in attack reached 57% thanks to Boskovic and Baladin. The first block of the Turks comes with Ognjenovic on 4-4. Haak returns to the shields, Lubian raises his voice in the sub-network and the Gialloblù come back forward with authority (12-5). On the other hand, Boskovic and Voronkova drop their attack and reception percentages. Conegliano seems to be in control (15-8), but commits some ingenuity that restores energy to the landlords (17-16). A break arrives with Haak and Plummer for 18-21, Sahin and Boskovic respond (20-21). Without any other mistakes Conegliano stays ahead until Plummer’s decisive block on the Serbian champion. The American repeats herself at the start of the fourth set (3-3), but it is Haak who shifts the balance. At 12-5, he has half of Conegliano’s points, while Eczacibasi constantly relies on Sahin, Jack-Kisal and Boskovic, who are very strong in serve. The panthers remain very attentive and precise against the block, reduce mistakes to a minimum and are a strong candidate to win the World Cup.