One down, three to go in quest for Zurich 2015 semis

Zurich, Switzerland, May 7, 2015 - Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul have secured the first of four semifinal berths at the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, following a convincing performance and a clear 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-19) against Dinamo Krasnodar. This leaves the second spot from Pool B up for grabs, to be decided between Dinamo and Hisamitsu Springs of Kobe in the closing match of pool play.

Hovering on the brink of a quick exit and a premature trip back home after losing their opening match, Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul put up an impenetrable block, provided some spectacular digging and really put the pressure on with their serving to claim the victory.

With scoring very evenly spread out amongst Eczacibasi's stars (including 15 points from Neslihan Demir, 14 from Jordan Larson-Burbach and another 13 from Gozde Yilmaz), the Turkish side's five aces and twelve stuffs were more than Dinamo could handle.

Some very poor attacking (including 5/14 for 36% in the first set by Dias Kalderon, who had to be substituted) added to the Russians' grief. Fe Garay reamained at 11/32 (34%) and Tatiana Kosheleva at 14/44 (32%).

But it was Rexona-AdeS Rio de Janeiro and hosts Volero Zurich who provided all the drama of Day 2 at the Club Worlds - including the two longest sets so far in the competition. Rexona-AdeS countered the unreachable height of the Volero players with all the flair and digging drama that only the best of Brazilian teams can provide.

With libero Fabi sweeping the entire court and plenty of options all across their attacking line -outside, centre and opposite- Rexona-AdeS left no doubt of their superiority, defeating Volero 3-1 (30-28, 25-22, 33-35, 25-22).

Pool A remains wide open, but Rexona-AdeS need only two sets tomorrow against Mirador Santo Domingo to secure their own berth in the semifinals.

Pool play in Zurich's Saalsporthalle concludes Friday starting at 17:30 local time (15:30 GMT) with the Rexona-AdeS v Mirador game, followed at 20:00 (18:00) with Dinamo v Hisamitsu Springs.

Further resources:
Tournament home page
Match
Schedule
Pool
Standings
Live
Text Commentary
Video
Highlights
Official
Brochure Programme
Organiser’s
Newsletter, Issue No. 1 (in German)
Organiser’s Newsletter, Issue No. 2 (in German)