Sanja STARovic against Scavolini Pesaro Rabita Baku

VC BAKI, Igtisadchi and Rabita destroyed the opponents!

The VII leg of the Azerbaijani Superleague finished yesterday, all the three matches ended in straight three sest,Rabita took its leadership back.
The first match of the day played between two outsiders VC BAKI and VC Shirvan. This match was cery important for both of the teams,as winning the match Shrivan girls could go up in the ranking giving their last place to VC Baki. So,both of the teams pretended to the victory before the match. But having problems with njutried players Shirvan girls could not show their great perfromance and lost the match 0:3 (17:25, 16:25, 20:25).
The MVP of the match was Cuban strong spiker Noris Acea Cabrera. The best o Shirvan was Adina Aliyeva who had healthy problems on the eve of the second round of the league and was hospitalized for ten days. Another spiker of Shirvan Tanya Sabkova did not take part in the match due to knee injury problem.

“Şirvan” - “Bakı” – 0:3 (17:25, 16:25, 20:25)

“Şirvan": Ivanova, Zamanova, Aliyeva, Habibova, Price, Karimova, Gajewska (l)

“Bakı”: Engle, Stoyneva, Alvarez, Acea Cabrera, Manzoni, Oquendo, Kisner (l)

Mighty Igtisadchi faced Lokomotiv in the second match of the day. The first set was very nervous and both of the teams were very close to win the set which could change the fate of the match. With great performance by the German setter Kathleen Weiss and Spanish middle Isabel Fernandez Igtisadchi closed the first set 25-23.
Lokomotiv was broken psycologically and lost the following two sets 17-25: 18-25
The best players of the match were the smart setters of the both teams: Kathleen Weiss and Monika Smak.

“İqtisadçı” - “Lokomotiv” – 3:0 (25:23, 25:17, 25:18)

“İqtisadçı”: Weiss, Haneef-Park, Lehtonen, Blom, Fernandez, Milos, Sano (l)

“Lokomotiv”: Smak, Metcalf, Richards, Kamenova, Parkhomenko, Kovalenko-Poznyak , Davis (L)

The last match of the leg was the most important,because the Derby between Azerrail and Rabita is always the most awaited match. Except that, this battle should clearify the name of the leader,as Azerrail was the leader of ranking before the match and Rabita was looking forward to take its leadership back.
The match started with Polina Rahimova`s great perfomance and Azerrail had 6 points advantage. 6-0 then 8-2. But Rabita with incredible Sanja Starovic`s attakcs and Natasa Krsmanovic`s killing blocks catched Azerrail at 17-17,but then Azerrail Baku once again took advantage by Rahimova`s very strong spikes. Jennifer Tamas played good in blocking and after 19-17 captain Mammadova with two strong attacks gave the equality to the score 19-19. But Azerrail was not going to give up and led the score by Pereira and Rahimova`s attacks 22-19. Great Mammadova and Starovic replied in the same way: 22-23 for Rabita Baku. And then with Azerrail`s reception problems and Starovic`s back line attack Rabita closed the first and very nervous set 25-23.
In the second set Azerrail substituted Hanikoglu and setter Peretiatko with Matiasovska and Nootsara respectively,but there was no chance for the in this set : 25-20 and Rabita led the score in sets 2-0.
The third set was the last and started quite interesting: The "Blocking Wolf" of Rabita, Natasa Krsmanovic stopped Hanikoglu`s attack from the 4th zone: 1-0,then Rahimova`s attack from the 2nd zone: 2-0, and then Jennifer Tamas`s middle attack from the 3rd zone. 3-0. Then with Mira Golubovic`s supper and very quick attacks Rabita took superiority. Coming back to the front line Natasa Krsmanovic blocked two more spikers of Azerrail,Elisangela Pereira and then Iliyana Petkova. Azerrail tried to save the match with super saves by Korotenko,but Rabita finished the set 25-14 and the match 3-0.
The best players of the match were: Natasa Krsmanovic and Valeriya Korotenko.

“Rabitə” - “Azərreyl” – 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:14)

“Rabitə”: Nenova, Starovic,Mammadova,Glass, Krsmanovic, Golubovic ,Popovic (l)

“Azərreyl”: Peretiatko (Nootsara),Pereira de Souza, Rahimova, Hanikoglu, Tamas-Joines, Petkova, Korotenko (l)

Note: Thanks to Nargiz Gasimli and Mo Haneef for the pics. More pics soon from our official website: www. azerivolley.com