Polina Rahimova show does not help Azerrail. Sanja Starovic - MVP of the "Thriller"

The first Final Four Round of the Azeri Super league ended in Mingachevir city with the couple of great matches.

The first match between Lokomotiv and Igtisadchi was also the revenge match for the last ones, as Igtisadchi lost the Challenge Cup semi-final to Lokomotiv and was looking forward to take the revenge and also claim its first victory in the internal arena final round.
Lokomotiv started very well by excellent attacks of Kseniya Kovalenko- Poznyak and won the first set. But Igtisadchi of Jan de Brandt was not agree to lose the third match in a row and won the following three sets in a very hard battle. Japanese libero Yuko Sano,Finnish Riikka Lehtonen and American Tayyiba Haneef were great and played great role in this victory.

In the second match of the day and the last match of the round two leaders- undefeated Azerrail faced its the biggest opponent Rabita Baku.

Olga Ativi showed super performance helping Sanja Starovic to get the first two sets. But Azerail of great young player Polina Rahimova did not want to give up and equalled the score from 0-2 to 2-2.

The last set began very nervous, Azerrail had three points advantage by Polina Rahimova`s klling serves and attacks. But Kimberly Glass who substituted Mammadova showed impressive game in blocking and helped Rabita to go ahead Her teammate Natasa Krsmanovic was also very effective in blocking and Rabita Baku won this five-set thriller.

20 aprel

“İqtisadçı” – “Lokomotiv”- 3:1 (20:25, 25:15, 27:25, 25:23)

MVP: Yuko Sano

The results of the Regular season matches

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

“Azərreyl” – “Rabitə” - 2:3 (17:25, 16:25, 25:22, 25:20; 14:16)

MVP: Sanja Starovic

The results of the Regular season matches
“Azərreyl” – “Rabitə” – 1:3 (25:22, 19:25, 22:25, 22:25)
“Rabitə” - “Azərreyl” – 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:14)

The fifth set Rabita - Azerrail

First Round Final Ranking

Azərreyl	3	2	1	8-5	5
Rabitə	3	2	1	8-6	5
Lokomotiv	3	1	2	5-8	4
İqtisadçı	3	1	2	5-7	4

Azerrail becomes leader, Rabita claims its first victory

The second day of the first Final Four round of the Azeri Super league in Mingachevir city ended by the leadership of Azerrail Baku.

Azerrail lost the first against Lokomotiv but won the following three sets with an outstanding performance of the Thailandese setter Tomkom Nootsara and Azeri players Polina Rahimova and libero Korotenko.

Rabita Baku was looking forward to claim its first victory. One of the key players Sanja Starovic came back to the court after yesterday`s injury that broken Rabita`s 2 sets advantage in the match against Lokomotiv. She proved once again she was a part of Rabita Baku as no one else.

Latvian universal player Olga Tocko- Ativi showed amazing performance. Azeri Star Natalya Mammadova also played great match,especially in the key moments. The setter Iryna Zhukova made her middle-blockers Mira Golubovic and Natasa Krasmanovic play as machines, libero Popovic also did her best and played great role in this vicotry against Igtisadchi Baku.

Olga Tocko- Ativi was the best player on the court.

19 aprel

“Lokomotiv” – “Azərreyl” - 1:3 (25:18, 19:25, 21:25; 15:25)

MVP: Tomkom Nootsara

The results of the Regular season matches

“Azərreyl” – “Lokomotiv” – 3:0 (28:26, 25:13, 27:25)
“Lokomotiv” - “Azərreyl” - 0:3 (13:25, 12:25, 22:25)

“Rabitə” – “İqtisadçı” - 3:1 (25:19, 25:16, 22:25, 25:18)

MVP: Olga Tocko Ativi

The results of the Regular season matches

“İqtisadçı” – “Rabitə” - 0:3 (14:25, 27:29, 19:25)
“Rabitə” - “İqtisadçı” - 0:3 (24:26, 23:25, 22:25)

Azərreyl	2	2	0	6-2	4
Rabitə	2	1	1	5-4	3
Lokomotiv	2	1	1	4-5	3
İqtisadçı	2	0	2	2-6	2

Azerrail and Lokomotiv win

The first round of Final Four tournaments of the Azeri Super league started in Mingachevir city yesterday.

The first match played between Rabita and Lokomotiv. Rabita lost the match after winning first two sets in a row. After Sanja Starovic`s leg injury at the end of the second set Olga Ativi changed her starting position of the 4th zone to the diogonal player and Kimberly Glass replaced her in the 4th zone. It did not helped Rabita and the last two years` champions lost the following three sets and Lokomotiv took its five-sets thriller`s happy end.

In the second match Azerrail Baku of outstanding Polina Rahimova destroyed Igtisadchi in four sets.

To watch the full matches: http://tv.voleybolx.com/

18 April

“Rabitə” – “Lokomotiv” - 2:3 (25:22; 25:16; 21:25; 22:25; 17:19)

MVP: Nicole Davis

Results of the regular season matches

“Rabitə” - “Lokomotiv” - 2:3 (25:23, 25:21, 21:25, 18:25, 12:15)
“Lokomotiv” - “Rabitə” - 1:3 (14:25, 25:13, 17:25, 25:27)


“İqtisadçı” – “Azərreyl” - 1:3 (18:25; 25:22; 19:25; 22:25)

MVP: Polina Rahimova

Results of the regular season matches

“İqtisadçı” - “Azərreyl” - 2:3 (25:27, 14:25, 25:22, 26:24, 12:15)
“Azərreyl” - “İqtisadçı” - 2:3 (23:25, 25:17, 27:25, 18:25, 12:15)

Polina Rahimova`s 48 points Rekord!

Here is the statistics of Polina Rahimova in the match Azerrail Baku- Uralochka Yekaterinburg where she scored 48!!! points in five-set thriller.

She scored: 39 attacks (53%) : 6 blocks: 3 aces!!!
The previous record of the Challenge Cup was also Polina Rahimova with 45 points in 2008/09 season after the match Azerrail Baku - Betonut Nyerghaza Hungary.

Tomkom Nootsara: Amazing!!!

New format for 2014 World Championships

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Board of Administration confirmed a new formula for the 2014 World Championships incorporating quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.

The new formula for both the women's and men's events, due to be held in Italy and Poland respectively, will see 23 of the 24 teams go through the qualifying process with the host country the only confirmed country (the defending champion was previously also guaranteed a qualification spot). Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals last featured at a FIVB World Championships in 2002.

The 24 teams will be spread across four pools of six teams playing in a round-robin system with the top four teams advancing to a second round of preliminary matches featuring two pools of eight teams. The top four from each pool will then advance to the quarterfinal phase.

In addition, the Board also decided to maintain the same number of vacancies per continent for the 2014 World Championships as per the 2010 editions:

AVC 4 Men - 4 Women
CAVB 3 - 2
CEV 9 - 10 (including hosts)
CSV 3 - 2
NORCECA 5 - 6

The criteria of vacancies is based on the number of teams participating in the qualification phase and percentage of teams placed in the top 12 at previous World Championships.

Source: FIVB

Natalya Mammadova - Final of Champions League

Polina Rahimova - Wonderful!