Tijana Boskovic of Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul smashes the ball past Monique and Carol of Rexina Sesc Rio de Janeiro.
Manila, Philippines, October 20, 2016 - Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul progressed to the semifinals after turning back a hard-fighting Rexona-Sesc Rio de Janeiro 3-2 (25-27, 25-19, 22-25, 25-18, 15-11) in the second match of Day 3 in the 2016 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.
It was a carbon-copy repeat of the reigning South American champions' previous match, a few hours earlier to end Day 2 against Pomi Casalmaggiore, when they also led 2-1 and went on to lose in five.
The Brazilian side had the upper hand at the beginning of the tie-break, but a 5-7 lead quickly evaporated to 12-7 as Eczacibasi blocked their way to victory.
Eczacibasi put up with Rexona's shorter but highly athletic lineup by bringing in its big guns Tijana Boskovic, Jordan Larson-Burbach and Tatiana Kosheleva.
They helped Eczacibasi string up 62 total attacks against Rexona's 59 spikes that got the Brazilian powerhouse busy defending their turf.
But the most telling was Eczacibasi’s 22 total blocks, seven of them coming from Boskovic, which sealed off much of the scoring lanes for Rexona who in turn made seven blocks. The Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist with Serbia bagged a total of 28 points to emerge top scorer of the game.
Rexona relied heavily on Monique Pavao, who banged in 24 points, and Gabi Guimaraes who unloaded 14 points. Rexona completed pool play at 1-2 in Group A and can only hope for a miracle gift by hosts PSL - F2 Logistics Manila against Pomi later in the day.
Quick links:-
FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship Manila 2016 - Website-
FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship Manila 2016 - Results & Schedule-
FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship Manila 2016 - Teams