LP SALO fights bravely but finally Azerrail BAKU cruises past after tie-break

2011 GM Capital Challenge Cup - Women

Salo, Finland, February 24, 2011. After a marvelous run in the previous rounds of the competition with no sets lost so far, yesterday night Azerrail BAKU claimed the first round of the 4th finals in the 2011 GM Capital Challenge Cup against LP SALO of Finland but needed a tie-break to finally celebrate another win (19-25, 25-15, 24-26, 25-14, 15-9). The girls from Azerbaijan have good chances to advance to the semis as the return game will be played next week in Baku.
Belgian Virginie De Carne and Polina Rahimova, i.e. the opposite hitters of LP SALO and Azerrail BAKU, were the main stars of the night, scoring a massive haul of 36 and 26 points respectively. De Carne was very proud of the effort displayed by her team: “This was a great game and the Finnish fans had tonight the chance to see some great Volleyball actions. I am quite happy with my performance but obviously not much with the final outcome of the game. We fought bravely and you shall not forget that in Finland we never have the chance to play tough games as the one we went through tonight. Polina Rahimova played a good game as well: she is a young and very talented player”.
The coach of Azerrail BAKU, Vugar Aliyev, paid his tribute to LP SALO: “We worked out our tactics by focusing on De Carne. I was a bit surprised with the emotion that the girls from Finland displayed on the court. LP SALO fought very well and so I am happy that finally we were able to claim the match”.
The coach of LP SALO, Tomi Lemminkäinen, wants to diversify his options in attack for the return game: “We played some first class Volleyball in the first and third set but we did not manage to maintain that level for the whole game. Virginie De Carne played a great game and so did also our captain and outside hitter Hanna-Mari Arminen. Next week we need to diversify our range of options in attack”.

Best Scorers: Virginie De Carne (Lp Salo) 36 points- 41%:--- Polina Rahimova (Azerrail Baku) 28 points (49 %).

Azerbaijan is a major force to contend with in this year’s GM Capital Challenge Cup, as Igtisadchi and Lokomotiv BAKU are also likely to advance to the semis after they scored wins in their respective quarterfinals against Kralovo Pole BRNO and SCHWERINER SC.

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