23/06/2012 20:33
Switzerland barely misses out on first win after real thriller with Turkey
2012 CEV Volleyball European League - Women
Fribourg, Switzerland, June 23, 2012. The home heroines of Switzerland claimed their best result in this year’s European League but they eventually lost 2:3 to Turkey in Fribourg for the second day of third-round action in Pool B (19-25, 16-25, 25-14, 25-23, and 18-20).
Switzerland caught a fulminous start and quickly went to the front but Turkey found its way into the game going up 8:7 by the first technical time-out. The fight remained close with good attacks and solid defense on both sides; after the scoreboard had showed 16 all, Turkey started blocking the Swiss attacks with great success. The Swiss team lost consistency for a while and that helped the Turks move up to 17:24. With a great effort Switzerland tried again to catch up with attacks by Laura Sirucek and Patricia Schauss but Turkey could finish the set 20-25.
In set 2 Switzerland started again very good (5:2) but again Turkey resisted and overtook the Swiss team by going up 10:13. The guests steadily extended their lead up to 12:16 and controlled the operations by alternating powerful spikes and tricky combinations to go for the provisional 0:2 (16-25).
Set 3 again started with Switzerland going up in the early phases (7:3); Laura Sirucek supported by Sandra Stocker, Patricia Schauss and Elena Steinemann killed some strong attacks and the home heroines were able to widen the gap up to 17:7. Both teams were fighting hard for the following balls with Switzerland having the better end most of the times. The Turkish team acted nervously in this period and served several times into the net, so the set eventually ended into a clear 25-14 for the home side.
Set 4 was balanced up to the score of 4:4. After that Switzerland dictated the tempo of the game and was able to overtake the inconsistent Turkish defense with solid attacks up to the score of 20:10. A service mistake ended Turkey’s first comeback at 21:16 and but again the score got very close at 23:22. Supported by the frenetically applauding 1’050 spectators the Swiss team called for the tie-break with an attack by Ines Granvorka sealing the provisional 2:2.
Teams exchanged the lead a few times in the tie-break before Turkey managed to break away up to 9:13. Switzerland nevertheless fought its way back to 14 all. A real thriller followed after that and Switzerland could not capitalize on a couple of match balls, with Turkey eventually taking home the win by the score of 18-20.
Although they lost the match Svetlana Ilic, head coach of the Swiss team, pointed out the great progresses her team has made. “We played a great match and we did not give up and fought all the way through. We changed our attitude and the Swiss players are now seen by the others as a team with its own strengths”. Asked about set 4, where Switzerland dissipated a 20:10 lead, both Svetlana Ilic and top scorer Laura Sirucek said they still have a long way to go to play with the necessary consistency but there are nevertheless quite many positives to take from this match with Turkey.
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