Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul's players celebrate their title
Lausanne, Switzerland, May 11, 2015 – Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul continued Europe’s run of success in the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship by taking the 2015 title with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19) victory over fellow Europeans Dinamo Krasnodar in the final in Zurich on Sunday.
It was the third straight win for winners of the CEV Champions League but only the second all-European final. Dinamo Kazan of Russia took the title last year, while Turkey’s VakifBank won in 2013.
Eczacibasi became the third Turkish team to claim the Club World title as they followed in the footsteps of cross-town rivals Fenerbahce (2010 in Doha) and Vakifbank (2013 in Zurich).
Only Brazil has won as many titles, but on this occasion the Brazilian representatives, Rexona-AdeS Rio de Janeiro, were shut out, not only from the title, but from the medals after losing the bronze-medal match 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-18) to hosts Voléro Zurich. Last year, Brazil claimed the silver (Molico Osasco) and bronze (SESI-SP) medals with Volero finishing fourth.
There was one other triple winner as Christiane Fuerst became the first player to claim three gold medals in the competition, curiously with three different sides from Istanbul (Fenerbahҫe 2010, VakifBank in 2013 and Eczacibasi in 2015).
USA's Jordan Larson-Burbach emerged top scorer of the final, with a total of 20 points (3 aces, 15/36 kills and 2 stuffs) to add the World Club Champion and MVP of the tournament to that of national team World Champion from last year in Milan.
Eczacibasi didn’t win the title the easy way. They were stunned in their opening match of the tournament as they suffered a 3-2 loss to Japan’s Hisamitsu Springs. But they regrouped to overcome Dinamo in a tight Pool B match. All three teams finished with 1-1 records in the Pool but Eczacibasi claimed top spot with four points followed by Dinamo with three and Hisamitsu with two.
In Pool A, Rexona won both their matches but were pushed to the limits by a resilient Volero team in a 3-1 (30-28, 25-22, 33-35, 25-22) win before cruising 3-0 past Mirador of the Dominican Republic. Volero also beat Mirador to advance to the semifinals.
The two semifinals ended 3-1 but neither were walkovers for the winning teams. Eczacibasi VitrA became the first team to book their place in the final after seeing off Volero Zurich 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 34-32), ending with a marathon fourth set. Dinamo Krasnodar then handed Rexona AdeS their first defeat of the tournament, 3-1 (25-21, 25-27, 25-23, 25-21), with Tatiana Kosheleva scoring 30 points for the Russian team.
Volero Zurich then compounded Rexona’s misery as they claimed their spot on the podium with a surprisingly comfortable straight-sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-18) win.
The bronze-medal match also saw two significant landmarks.
Volero's opposite Rykhliuk topped the all-time scoring record of 85 points held by Dinamo Kazan's Ekaterina Gamova (2014) as she finished with 93 points.
For Rexona-AdeS, setter and captain Fofao was making her last appearance. She retired at the age of 45 after an amazing career that spanned three decades and five Olympics (including gold in 2008 in Beijing).
Eczacibasi win on their debut· Eczacibasi have been crowned winners of the 2015 Club World Championship on their debut participation.
· They beat Dinamo Krasnodar 3-1 in the final and became the third Turkish side to win the competition after VakifBank (2013) and Fenerbahҫe (2010). The only other country with three gold medals is Brazil (also 3).
· The last three editions of the Club World Championship have now been won by the winner of the CEV Champions League of the same year: Dinamo Kazan (RUS) in 2014 and VakifBank (TUR) in 2013.
· This year's final marked the first time in history of the competition more than three sets were needed to decide the winner. All previous eight editions were decided in straight sets.
· Off all six teams from the 2015 Club World Championship, Eczacibasi are the only team coming home with a positive match balance, having won three and losing only one of their matches.
· Eczacibasi produced this year's most valuable player with Jordan Larson-Burbach. She also produced most points in the final (30 points).
· Christiane Fuerst became the first player in history with three gold medals in the competition. She has won all three with Istanbul sides (Fenerbahҫe 2010, VakifBank in 2013 and Eczacibasi in 2015).
Hosts Voléro Zürich win first Swiss medal· Voléro Zürich beat Rexona-Ades in the final for third place in the competition to win the first silverware for Switzerland at the Club World Championship.
· This year's Club World Championship marked the first time there was an all-European podium in the competition.
· Voléro entered the tournament with four wins and four defeats in the competition and have failed to find a positive balance this year. They are now on six wins and six defeats.
· Voléro's Olesia Rykhliuk became this year's top scorer in the competition with 93 points in total (80 spikes, 11 blocks, 2 serves), beating the all-time scoring record of Dinamo Kazan's Ekaterina Gamova from 2014.
For first time no Brazilian silverware· Rexona-Ades missed out on any silverware which makes this year's Club World Championship the first without any Brazilian team on the podium.
· Rexona-Ades are the second Brazilian team not to reach the podium in the competition after Colgate São Caetano finished in fifth place in 1992.