Guangdong Evergrande was defeated by Vakifbank Istanbul in the semi-final at Women’s Club World Championships and the Chinese team have to come to terms with a debacle in Zurich. Vakifbank is going to stand in the decisive game in front of Unilever Volei Rio De Janeiro, which overcame the hosts of the tournament Volero Zurich.
Vakifbank Istanbul – Guangdong Evergrande 3:0 (28:26, 25-15, 25-20)
Vakifbank: Aydemir 5, Sinsirma 12, Toksoy 3, Brakocevic 16, Costagrande 13, Furst 12, Karadayi (L) and Onal 2, Nikolic
Evergrande: Shen, Zhu 18, Yang 10, Hodge 3, Ruohi 13, Xu 5, Zhang (L) and T. Wang, N. Wang, Zeng
Ting Zhu got in a couple of good shots as Guangdong Evergrande moved into an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout. The Chinese, who have not had their best day versus Volero on Thursday, kick started into the semi-final duel, putting a lot of pressure on the Turkish spikers. Guidetti’s squad managed to rally back to 13-13, but China kept the upper hand until 16-14. Setter Jingsi Shen repeatedly counted on her fast middle blockers and powerful wing spikers Ting Zhu and captain Ruoqi Hui. However, a Christiane Fürst block kill and a diagonal winner from super star Jovana Brakocevic turned the tables at 20-19. It was a roller coaster set with both teams displaying fantastic volleyball in Zurich’s Saalsporthalle. At 27-26, Brakocevic seized the third chance for the set win as she hammered the Mikasa down to make it 28-26 and 1:0 for Turkey.
Vakifbank Istanbul kept momentum early in the second period, sending their shocked opponents 8-2 into the first technical timeout. The Chinese had lost their focus, acting with less determination and precision. On the other side, the Turks showed great technical discipline. At the second technical break, Istanbul had already extended their lead to six points. It was a one-way game now with the Europeans moving the scoreboard progressively forward. Brakocevic brought up set ball at 24-15 before a Güldeniz Onal ace ended the second set 25-15 in Vakifbank’s favour.
China regained momentum early in the third set. A 12-7 lead was – however – not good enough to pull through. Turkey bounced back to 17-17 and retook command in the crucial phase of the set. Especially the Turkish block-defense system worked regular as Swiss clockwork in that stage of the match. Brakocevic and her teammates rushed to a 22-20 lead and never looked back until 25-20.
Team Stats:
| Action | Spike points | Spike % | Block | Serve | Reception | Digs | Errors |
| Vakifbank | 50 | 47% | 8 | 5 | 68% | 23 | 12 |
| Evergrande | 42 | 40% | 6 | 1 | 50% | 33 | 15 |
Team Leaders:
| Action | Points | Spike Points | Spike % | Spike errors | Block | Serve | Errors |
| Jovana Brakocevic | 16 | 15 | 45% | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Ting Zhu | 18 | 14 | 36% | 7 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
Volero Zurich – Unilever Volei 0:3 (23-25, 20-25, 16-25)
Volero: Karine 2, Osmokrovic 7, Onyejekwe 8, Rykhliuk 11, Carcaces 9, Golubovic 8, Sano (L) and Gogic, Unternahrer 1, Ninkovic, Granvorka
Unilever: Fofao, Gabi 4, Carol 13, Pavan 18, Bidias 1, Juciely 13, Fabi (L) and Mihajlovic 4, Bruna 1, Amanda 1, Roberta, Natasha
The hosts had the advantage in the early stages of the match, cruising into a 16-11 lead at the second technical timeout before Unilever fought back with some great defence that set up a good finish for middle blocker Juciely. A block winner and a successful spike by Sarah Pavan saw Brazil go two points ahead at 22-20 and that was too much for Zurich to overcome. Volero closed to 22-23 before Pavan, again, spiked set point and Juciely hammered the ball down to end the opening set 25-23 in Unilever’s favour.
Volero’s prominent wing spikers Natasa Osmokrovic (2 points) and Kenia Carcaces (3) had little influence in the first set. Brazilian middle blocker Carol slammed down the Mikasa and made a good block on Olesia Rykhliuk as Unilever streaked into a 7-4 lead in the second set. The Swiss bounced back to 8-8 but saw their opponents rally to a four-point lead at 13-9 with Brankica Mihajlovic sending a couple of rocket serves to the other side. At the second technical break, the South American already led 16-10. Pavan delivered a well-timed shot that helped move the Brazilians into a seven-point lead at 19-12 and they never really looked in danger after that. Juciely brought set point and Nneka Onyejekwe sent her shot long to end the set 25-20 for Unilever.
The story of the match did not change in the third and last set. The hosts struggled with passing and missed a power hitter who scored in difficult situations. On the other hand, Sarah Pavan and middle blockers Juciely and Carol led the Brazilians with blistering winners to an undisputed 25-16 set and 3:0 match win.
Team Stats:
| Action | Spike points | Spike % | Block | Serve | Reception | Digs | Errors |
| Volero | 33 | 36% | 8 | 5 | 50% | 17 | 18 |
| Unilever | 39 | 42% | 14 | 4 | 50% | 19 | 13 |
Team Leadres:
| Action | Points | Spike Points | Spike % | Spike errors | Block | Serve | Errors |
| Kenia Carcaces | 9 | 8 | 40% | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Sarah Pavan | 18 | 17 | 71% | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
Description: FIVB
