Doha, Qatar, October 13, 2011 –VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul and Rabita Baku advanced to the gold-medal match in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship after gaining semifinal victories on Thursday at the event being held in Doha, Qatar.

VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul and Rabita Baku will battle for the gold medal in the women’s competition at 5 p.m. Sollys Nestle Osasco and Mirador Santo Domingo will start Friday’s matches at 10 a.m. vying for the women’s bronze medal.

VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul's leading scorer in the tournament is Malgorzata Glinka with 52 points for second place overall. She also ranks second in Best Spiker with a 48.4 success percent, while teammate Jelena Nikolic is fifth in the category with a 38.7 success percent. Christiane Fuerst is currently second in Best Blocker with 1.00 blocks per set. VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul has the top five servers in the tournament, led by Bahar Toksoy's 0.78 ace average. As a team, VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul averages 3.44 aces per set.

Rabita Baku is led by Natasa Osmokrovic, who leads in three different categories including Best Scorer with 54 points, Best Spiker with a 51.8 spike percent and Best Receiver with a 70.6 efficiency percent. Teammate Sanja Starovic is fourth in scoring with 45 points. Despite sitting out the entire semifinal victory over Mirador, Natalya Mammadova still ranks eighth in scoring with 39 points and is third in spike percent at 43.7. Iryna Zhukova is second in Best Setter with 4.83 running sets average.

Sollys Nestle Osasco is led by Ivna Marra's 46 points, which is third heading into the medal matches. Samara Almeida ranks fourth in scoring with 45 points. Adenizia Silva heads he Best Blocker list with 1.17 blocks per set average, while Ana Beatriz Correa ranks third in the category at 0.83 per set. Camila Brait ranks third in Best Digger with 4.33 per set, while Juliana Costa is fourth in Best Receiver with a 58.0 efficiency percent.

Mirador Santo Domingo is led by Jeoselina Rodriguez and her sixth-best 44 points in the tournament. She also ranks fourth in Best Spiker with 40.6 success percent. Carmen Rosa Caso Sierra leads the Best Digger category with 5.36 digs per set, along with a 63.2 efficiency percent in reception for second place. Caso Sierra ranks as the leading libero with an average of 10.82 per set.

VakifBank TTelekom 3, Sollys Nestle Osasco 0
Turkey’s VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul advanced to the gold-medal match of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club Championship by defeating Brazil’s Sollys Nestle Osasco 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 on Thursday morning.

Malgorzata Glinka sparked VakifBank TTelekom with a match-high 19 points, while Christiane Fuerst contributed 18 points. Sollys Nestle was led by Samara Almeida’s 12 points, followed by Ana Beatriz Correa, Ivna Marra and Adenizia Silva all with seven points. VakifBank TTelekom held a 41-31 margin in attacks, as well as an 8-3 advantage in aces. Both teams produced nine blocks.

“Our receptions, attacks and blocks today were perfect, but tomorrow we have an important game, so let's focus on that,” VakifBank TTelekom Istanbul captain Godze Sonsirma said.

“We really tried to give our best, but the Turkish team played very strong,” Sollys Nestle Osasco captain Julaina Costa said. “The competition is not finished yet, and we will still fight for third place.”

Rabita Baku 3, Mirador Santo Domingo 0
Rabita Baku overwhelmed Mirador Santo Domingo 25-15, 25-15, 25-8 on Thursday evening to advance to the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship gold-medal match.

Rabita Baku was led by Natasa Osmokrovic’s 19 points, while Sanja Starovic contributed 15 points in the victory. Rabita Baku captain Natalya Mammadova did not compete in the match after being her team’s leading scorer during pool play. Mirador Santo Domingo was led by 15-year-old Brayelin Martinez and Jeoselina Rodriguez with nine points. Rabita Baku held a 6-3 advantage in aces and benefited from 19 Mirador Santo Domingo errors in the match. Meanwhile Rabita Baku limited their mistakes to seven errors and achieved an 8-3 block advantage.

“It was quite an easy game today. Tomorrow will be a lot more difficult. The Turkish team have won all games with 3-0 in this competition. As long as we stick to our game plan, play smart tactically and make use of our strong blocks, we will be able to win.”

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