Shirvan pulls off an upset on the opening day of the Superleague

The Azerbaijani Superleague kicked off on Monday afternoon in Baku.

In the opening match of the championship, Azerrail overpowered Baki 3:0 (25:19, 25:21, 25:16).

Azerrail won the first set 25:14 thanks to powerful spikes from Polina Rahimova.

In the second set, Baki was able to keep the pace, trailing only two points, 14:16, before Azerrail pulled away. Again it was Rahimova who made some crucial breakthroughs, ending the set 25:21.

In the third set, Azerrail reached the first technical timeout at 8:3 as Baki struggled defensively. By the time of the second technical break, Azerrail had a nine-point cushion at 16:7, and it was only a matter of time before victory was complete.

In the second match of the day, Rabita Baku pulled off a 3:0 (25:14, 29:27, 25:19) victory over Igtisadchi.

Igtisadchi did not perform well in the first set and failed to stop Rabita's onslaught, led by Natasa Krsmanovic and Natalya Mammadova, going down 25:14.

Igtisadchi pulled their game together to make amends in the second set. Trailing narrowly 16:15, Igtisadchi upped their poise to tie the set at 23. In the ensuing game that went back and forth, Rabita's stonewall defense proved to be a decisive factor, as the reigning champions took the thrilling battle 29:27.

Rabita continued their sparkling form in the third set as they roamed on their powerful attacks to win the set 25:19 and the match.

Shirvan's Odina Aliyeva and Tanya Sabkova became the heroes of the day as the duo played a pivotal role in orchestrating the first upset of the championship. After Shirvan went down 18:25 in the first and 26:28 in the third set against Lokomotiv, Aliyeva and Sabkova had a series of sensational spikes to help haul back two sets, 25:21 and 26:24. In the tiebreaker, Shirvan reeled off four of the last five points for the victory at 15:13.

Aliyeva and Sabkova finished the game with a combined total of 34 kills, while Aynur Karimova helped defensively, scoring 10 block points. Kremena Kamenova and Kristin Richards led Lokomotiv with 29 and 26 points, respectively.

Azerbaijani Superleague. I Round Statistics:

Azerrail - Baki 3:0 (25:19, 25:21, 25:16)
Rabita Baku - Igtisadchi 3:0 (25:14, 29:27, 25:19)
Lokomotiv - Shirvan 2:3 (25:18, 21:25, 28:26, 24:26, 13:15)