Kathleen Weiss: When I heard that many of my friends had chosen Azerbaijan,I decided to follow them.

German setter of Igtisadchi Baku team, Kathleen Weiss who takes part in the World Championship in Japan,shared her thoughts about her choice with azerisport.com.
"I would like to stay in Italy for one more season,but the conditions were very important for me. Then I had an offer from Azerbaijan. When I heard that many of my friends had chosen Azerbaijan,I decided to follow them."
Kathleen Weiss played last season in one of Italian Grands-Despar Perugia. Her teammate was Riikka Lehtonen who also chose Igtisadchi Baku.

Azerrail sweeps Lokomotiv, Rabita defeats Galatasaray

The third day of "Baku Volley Cup"

Azerbaijani international Polina Rahimova had a match-high 19 kills and former Turkish international Natalia Hanikoglu added 11 kills, as Azerrail rallied to knock off Lokomotiv in three sets on Thursday at the international volleyball tournament in Baku. Set scores were 25:21, 25:15, 27:25. American duo Kristin Richards and Julie Rubenstein were the best players for Lokomotiv, scoring 11 points each.

Meanwhile, Rabita dropped the opening set against Galatasaray, but came back and won next three sets to post a 3:1 (26:28, 25:17, 25:22, 25:19) victory.

In the final match of the day, Uralochka defeated Zarechie 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:17).

Azerrail - Lokomotiv 3:0 (25:21, 25:15, 27:25)
Rabita - Galatasaray 3:1 (26:28, 25:17, 25:22, 25:19)
Uralochka - Zarechie-Odintsovo 3:0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:17)

Tomorrow, November 5th, is a rest day for the teams.





Note: Thanks to Artem Borisenko for statistics and azerisport.com for pics.

Statistics: Lokomotiv Baku 3- 0 Galatasaray Medical Park. Kseniya Kovalenko is unstoppable.

The last match of the seocnd day was played between local Lokomotiv Baku and Turkish Galatasaray Medical Park.
Lokomotiv Baku`s Azeri National team player,middle-blocker Kseniya Kovalenko played with 11 points and 75% effiency in attacks and the USA national team outside-hitter Kristin Richards was the Best Scorer with 20 points in this match.

One more time thanks to Artem Borisenko for statistics.

Statistics Rabita-Uralochka. Mammadova`s 33 points did not help the team.

Here` s the statistics of the match Uralochka Yekaterinburg-Rabita Baku from the second match day of "Baku Volley Cup".
The team captain and star of Azeri National team Natalya Mammadova was the Best Scorer of the match with 33 points and 55% effiency on attack. But that was not enough for Rabita Baku to defeat Uralochka who also played great with Belorussian opposite-hitter Oksana Kovalchyk (26 points and 56%) and Bulgarian middle-blocker Strashimira Filipova ( 26 points and 57%).
Another scorer in Rabita was Olga Tocko Ativi who scored 19 points with 41% effiency.
We are very grateful to Rabita`s Statistic Artem Borisenko for his help.

Lokomotiv outclassed Galatasaray Medical Park in three sets.

Last year`s Finalist Lokomotiv Baku faced Turkish Galatasaray Medical Park in the third match of the second day of "Baku Volley Cup" .
Lokomotiv Baku started playing very fast with attacks of central player Kseniya Kovalenko and American outside-hitter Kristin Richards powerful spikes. The first set ended 25-20.
In the second set Lokomotiv played not good at reception and was very close to lose the set,but after 19-23 Lokomotiv scored 6 points in a row at the final step of the set and took it to 2-0 in match.
The third with a brillance performance of Yelena Parkhomenko and Julie Rubenstein Lokomotiv easily closed the set 25- 11 and won the match 3-0.
On Azeri side Kseniya Kovalenko was the best. Vesna Citakovic was the best in Turkish team.

Rabita Baku lost to Uralochka in a dramatic match.

Azerbaijani team Rabita Baku played against Russian Uralochka Yekaterinburg on the second day of "Baku Volley Cup".
In the first set Rabita lost 30-28, but won the following sets 25-23: 25-16 . After that Uralochka equaled the score with the points of Oksana Kovalchyk 25-19. In the final set, Rabita was 12-8 ahead but lost the tie-break 16-18 and the match 2-3.
Natalya Mammadova was the Best Scorer of the team. In Russian team Oksana Kovalchyk was the best.

Azerrail Baku crushed Zarechie Odinstovo with its young star Rahimova!!!

Azerrail Baku faced Russian Champions Zarechie Odintsovo in the first match of the second day of the "Baku Volley Cup".
In the first set Zarechie-Odintsovo started with powerful attacks by Markova and Makarova and Azerrail answered with Polina Rahimova`s strong attacks. At the end of the set Russian champions were leading 24-20 but Azerrail did great come-back with young Azeri Star Polina Rahimova`s blocks and attacks and won the first set 27-25
The second set started with the same scene-Polina Rahimova crushed opponents` defence with her great spikes and Valeriya Korotenko did some amazing defenses which were applauded by the spectators. Setter Angie McGinnis made her team to play quick game. 25-17 and Azerrail led 2-0.
The third set also ended with advantage of Azerrail Baku 27-25 and Azeri team closed the match 3-0.
Polina Rahimova once again was the Best Scorer and MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the match.
So,one more Azeri club crushed Russian champions.

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