Two games, one sports hall and two victories in one night for the Ankara participants in the CEV Cup. This sentence best summarizes what happened in yesterday’s semifinals in the “Baskent” Sports Complex in the Turkish capital.

The total surprise of the second strongest European Club competition Maliye Milli Piyango opened up the volleyball evening with a match against the Italian favourites Andreoli Latina. Theoretically, it was the weaker Turkish team to face a stronger side, at least on paper, but no one told the boys coached by Josko Milenkoski that they should be impressed. Silvano Prandi rotated almost everyone in the roster, but Latina had the potential to only grab the third set. Two Serbians (Marko Ivovic and Milos Vemic as outside hitters) and a Macedonian (the opposite Nikola Gjorgiev) carried most of the attack weight for the home side, which now has the psychological advantage to travel to Italy full of final hopes.

 

Maliye Milli Piyango Ankara – Andreoli Latina 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18)

 

2013 cevcup maliye-latina

The glory for Ankara was about to get double as the most impressive team in the tournament so far, in my modest opinion, enjoyed a great hour on the court against Lokomotiv Kharkiv. In spite of their opposite Sergey Tyutlin finishing one more game as a highest scorer, the Ukrainians did not have too many chances to oppose to their hosts. The Turkish playmaker Huseyin Koc was allegedly the best player for the winners as he used his attackers wisely. They got a relatively balanced sets distribution and all finished with a high attack percentage. Thus, the players of the head coach Veselin Vukovic closed the match quickly in three.

 

Halkbank Ankara – Lokomotiv Kharkiv 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17)

 

The Ankara heroes, however, should stay with cool heads as both return games will be played away. Latina is surely not giving final chances away easily, whereas Lokomotiv carried away Tours VB two weeks ago after a great home performance.

 

Pictures: CEV