Statistics of the first day.

Uralochka - Lokomotiv Baku 1:3 (25:23, 20:25, 12:25, 20:25) Statistics

Azerrail Baku- Galatasaray Medical Park 3:0 (25:11, 25:18, 25:21) Statistics

Rabita Baku- Zarechie Odintsovo 3:1 (25:20, 25:21, 25:27; 25:21) Statistics


Thanks to Artem Borisenko and sb-volley.ru

Photos of the match: Azerrail Baku-Galatasaray Medical Park

by azerisport.com

Azerbaijani champion defeated Russian champion!

With the match Rabita Baku-Zarechie Odintsovo first day of the "Baku Volley Cup" tournament came to the end.
Azerbaijani champion Rabita Baku faced the last Russian champion Zarechie Odintsovo at the last match of the first day.
Rabita Baku which misses the players like Kimberly Glass,Mirela Delic,Natasa Krsmanovic and libero Silvija Popovic played great match against very strong Russian team which played with the main squad and missed just a German player Margarethe Kozuch who is also one of the main key players of the team.
Both the teams started match scoring points in a row. Natalya Mammadova and Olga Ativi played as outside hitters,the middle-blockers were Serbian experienced Mira Golubovic and Lidiya Dyachenko,setter was Irina Zhukova who aslo played for Zarechie Odintsovo in the past,and her opposite was Sanja Starovic.
Olga Ativi and Mira Golubovic led the team with their powerful spikes and Mammadova played very effectively at reception as in the first set also in the following sets.
Rabita Baku won the first two sets 25-20: 25-21 and lost the third one 25-27 playing very comfortable and thinking that they had won the whole match. But Zarechie Odintsovo played very good as a team,and showed great performance with the players like Walewska Moreira de Oliveira,Kseniya Naumova,Anna Makarova and Anastasiya Markova. Another great performance came from the guests` libero Vinogradova who played amazingly the all match long.
Rabita Baku won the last set with strong attacks of the captain Mammadova and blocks of Mira Golubovic -25:21 and 3-1 in the sets.
So,Rabita,Azerrail and Uralochka finished the first day with important wins.

Rabita Baku: Zhukova (Nenova),Starovic,Mammadova,Ativi, (Kulikova),Golubovic,Dyachenko and libero Doganjic.

Zarechie-Odintsovo: Zhadan (Pankova),Makarova,Naumova,Markova,Lisovskaya (Bogacheva),Walewska and libero Vinogradova.

Tomorrow`s match schedule:

3 November
15:00. “Rabita” - “Uralochka”
17:00. “Azerrail” - “Zarechie-Odintsovo”
19:00. “Galatasaray” - “Lokomotiv”

All the matches will be shown LIVE by "Idman Azerbaycan" TV.

Azerrail crushes Galatasaray.

In the second match of "Baku Volley Cup" Azerrail defeated Turkish club Galatasaray Medical Park in straight sets.

First set Azerrail did not give a chance to the Turkish team and finished the set 25:11. The following sets finished 25-18 and 25-21 and Azerail took its first victory in this tournament.
Azeri young player Polina Rahimova played great match today and was the Best scorer of the court and scored 22 points (14 spikes, 5 serves and 3 blocks) in the three- sets match.

Starting six:
Azerrail Baku: Angie Mcginnis, Elisangela Pereria de Souza,Natalya Hanikoglu,Polina Rahimova,Aynur Karimova,Iliyana Petkova and libero Valeriya Korotenko.

Galatasaray Medical Park: Arzu Gollu,Deniz Hakyemez,Erika Coimbra,Dilara Bilge,Gozde Dal,Vesna Citakovic and libero Merve Dalbeler.

Note: Azerrail Baku missed American National team captain Jennifer Joines Tamas and another American player whose name has not been called yet.
Galatasaray Medical Park missed Serbian Ivana Djerisilo who did not come to Baku. Another miss of the Turkish club was Puerto-Rico`s Karina Ocasio who plays for her National team in the World Championship in Japan.

Uralochka defeated Lokomotiv Baku.

"Baku Volley Tournament" started today with the match Lokomotiv-Uralochka in the Baku Sport Palace.
Uralochka Yekaterinburg started match with attacks by Estes and Kovalchyk and Lokomotiv answered with powerful spikes of captain Yelena Parkhomenko and Julie Rubenstein. First set ended with the majority of Azeri team 25-23.
Uralochka played great team-game in the following three sets and won them respectively 25-21: 25-12 and 25-20 and ended the match 3-1.
The best players of the teams were: Belorussian diagonal Oksana Kovalchyk (Uralochka) and American young but very very impressive outside-hitter Julie Rubenstein (Lokomotiv).

Lokomotiv Baku: Smak,Samoylova,Kovalenko,Parkhomenko,Rubenstein,Kamenova and libero Filipova. (Richards,Mammadyarova)
Uralochka: Salina,Kovalchyk,Estes,Rusakova,Filipova,Beloborodova and libero Kuznetsova.

Note: Lokomotiv missed three main players Nancy Metcalf,Nicole Davis and Elena Keldibekova who take part in the World Championship in Japan.
Uralochka played with the whole team.

Statistics soon.

"Baku Volley" on TV. All the matches are LIVE!!!

"Idman Azerbaycan" Tv will broadcast all the matches of "Baku Volley Tournament" live.

2 November
15:00. “Lokomotiv” - “Uraloçka”
17:00. “Azerreyl” - “Qalatasaray”
19:00. “Rabita” - “Zarechie-Odintsovo”

3 November
15:00. “Rabita” - “Uralochka”
17:00. “Azerrail” - “Zarechie-Odintsovo”
19:00. “Galatasaray” - “Lokomotiv”

4 November
15:00. “Azerrail” - “Uralochka”
17:00. “Rabita” - “Lokomotiv”
19:00. “Zarechie-Odintsovo” - “Galatasaray”

5 November
Rest day.

6 November
15:00. “Uralochka” - “Zarechie-Odintsovo”
17:00. “Galatasaray” - “Rabita”
19:00. “Lokomotiv” - “Azerrail”

7 November
14:00. “Uralochka” - “Galatasaray”
16:00. “Lokomotiv” - “Zarechie-Odintsovo”
18:00. “Azerrail” - “Rabita”

Friendly match: Rabita -Uralochka 2-2

Azerbaijani last champion Rabita Baku played friendly match against Russian legend Uralochka Yekaterinburg on the 30th of October in Baku.
Nikolay Karpol`s team came to Baku to participate in the pre-season "Baku Volley tournament" which will be hold on the 2th of November.
The sides decided to play a friendly match before the tournament and the match finished 2-2. Rabita Baku won the first two sets (25-22: 25-23). Head coach Dejan Brdjovic did some experiments during the match. Azeri NT leader and captain of Rabita Baku Natalya Mammadova played first three sets in her real position-4th zone. As libero Silvija Popovic plays in the World Championship in Japan,another outside-hitter Bojana Doganjic played as a libero,as in the previous matches of Rabita. Bulgarian setter Diana Nenova was the starting setter in the first three sets. Mammadova`s diagonal was Olga Tocko Attivi, the setter`s opposite was Sanja Starovic.
The following two sets were won by Uralochka,which was lead another great name Evgeniya Artamanova Estes and Bulgarian middle-blocker Strashimira Filipova (25-18: 28-26)

The statistics of the match by Artem Borisenko (we are very thankful to him).

From sea to shining sea

Promising young stars of the USA National team.

More than 11,000 kilometers away, Baku may seem an odd destination for California natives Julie Rubenstein and Ashley Engle. But rising profile of the Azerbaijani league has brought these talented young players to the shores of Caspian Sea and this is what they had to say about it.

Ashley. I didn't know anything about Azerbaijan before I came here. Some girls from the U.S. team had told me about their experiences, but that was all the information I had.

Julie. A few of my American teammates were here last season, and I was able to ask them what Baku is like and also what it’s like to play here. I was very surprised at how beautiful the architecture is here, and especially at how the city lights up at night.

Ashley. The city is much different than I had expected, more construction than I thought and the downtown area is very nice with lots of great places to eat, which is very important to me. Since I have been in Baku I have checked out the old town and I enjoy walking around the downtown area, especially at night.

Julie. I really like my new team. I am trying to adjust playing with people I am unable to communicate with because of the language barrier. And the league is going to be very competitive and fun to play in. I’m excited to be in this league and of course play against all of my other U.S. teammates that are or will be here.

Ashley. The level of competition will be very high throughout the season. Our team has already scrimmaged a few teams and they are all very talented and will continue to get better just as we will.

I am very close with my family, they were surprised when I had the opportunity to play in Baku but were supportive nonetheless, they knew I wanted a competitive environment to start my professional career. Since I have been here the language barrier has not been a huge problem. My head coach speaks Russian and the majority of the players on my team speak English and have helped me when there is a communication break down.

Julie. When I told my family that I'm going to Azerbaijan their first question was, "you’re going where!?". We all had to do some research online. But once they did, they were happy for me. They are very supportive of everything I do. It has been challenging in terms of language barrier, but it is a great learning experience for me. I enjoy learning about other cultures. I am also trying to learn Russian so I can better communicate with my teammates, coach, and to be able to get around the city better. I love the city center; it’s so beautiful. I spend a lot of time there, with friends, and also eating out at different restaurants. I like trying new foods. I love the lula kebab!

Ashley. I really enjoy the local cuisine. The kebabs are really good. Overall, the hospitality has been refreshing and very helpful as well. In public, I find that people stare often but I assume its because I am very tall and typically in volleyball attire. It seems that volleyball is very popular here and everyone wants to know what team I play for.

Julie. Well being tall, blond, English-speaking, and the fact that I am almost always in athletic clothing makes me stick out too just a little bit.

What am I going to do after I quit playing volleyball? I have thought a lot about what I'm going to do after I retire from sport, and I am still unsure. I enjoy coaching, and have also thought about teaching elementary school students, which is what I studied in college.

Ashley. Once I retire from volleyball I am not sure what I will do. I think it will depend on where I live and when I retire. It's hard to know what I will want to do, when I may not retire for a few more years.

Julie. I credit my family for making me who I am today. I love and miss them very much and when I get homesick I talk with them, my friends and my fiancé on Skype!

Ashley. I do get homesick from time to time but I went to college out of state so I am used to missing my family. I also use Skype everyday to talk to my parents and my sister. My sister and brother in law currently live in Moscow, Russia because my brother-in-law, Kevin Hansen, also plays professional volleyball.

Ashley. My iPod playlist right now has John Mayer, Kid Cudi, Kesha, Tyrone Wells, Brett Dennen, Lady GaGa, and any other songs that you can dance to.

Julie. And I have quite a mix of genres and songs!