Fener gets bronze in World Champs

DOHA

Fenerbahçe claimed the bronze medal with a comfortable victory over Puerto Rico’s Lancheras in the Club World Championship third-place playoff in Doha.

Fenerbahçe women’s volleyball team won the bronze medal in the FIVB Club World Cup with a comfortable win over Lancheras de Catano of Puerto Rico in straight sets on Oct. 19.

The Yellow Canaries, who were knocked out in the semifinals by Rabita Baku a day earlier, finished the tournament with a three-set win (25-16, 25-17, 25-17) at Aspire Zone Hall of Doha.

Berenika Okuniewska and Eda Erdem were the top scorers of Fenerbahçe with 13 points apiece. Seda Tokatlıoğlu and Paula Pequeno followed with 12 and 11 respectively. Lancheras’ Yarimar Rosa had a match-high 16 points.

The winners held advantages of 8-3 in blocks and 9-1 in service aces. Okuniewska finished with four blocks while Tokatlıoğlu served three aces.

Fener had to play without Kim Yeon-Koung due to a problem with her former Korean team. Kim had signed a two-year contract with Fenerbahçe in July this year, one season after completing her first season in Istanbul on a loan from her South Korean team, the Heungguk Life Pink Spiders.

The Korean club, however, argued that it still reserved rights to Kim because she hadn‘t yet earned the eligibility as a free agent, and that her signing with Fenerbahçe violated local rules.

Speaking to the Korean Yonhap News, Kim made it clear that she want the issue to be solved, but the sport’s governing body, FIVB, did not let the Korean play for Fenerbahçe at the tournament.

Never look back
On Oct. 19, Okuniewska served an ace to cap her early attack against Lancheras as Fener led 8-3 and never looked back before the set finished 25-16.

A similar run was seen in the second set, when Pequeno blocked against Torregrosa for an 8-2 advantage. The gap widened to 14-5 after two aces by Pequeno.

Lancheras bounced back in the third sept to an 8-4 lead but Steinbrecher’s spike and the ace by Erdem tie up the score at 11-all. At 13-all, Okuniewska landed her spike and Rosa attacked way long for the two-point difference in favor of the Turks. The hit by Steinbrecher closed the game.