Freya Aelbrecht was instrumental to her team's victory over Turkey
Ankara, Turkey, July 3, 2015 – The home crowd in Ankara was quite disappointed by the outcome of the first match of their favourite Turkish team in this year’s FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix. The Belgian squad proved far too powerful for the hosts of Pool C shutting them out by 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-23). Kaja Grobelna was the most prolific player of the match with 18 points for the winning team.
Charlotte Leys and Freya Aelbrecht led their team to a very strong performance in the first set. With the help of some prolific attacking and three aces, the Belgians took total control on the court to crush the opponent by 25-13. In the second set Turkey held up through 9-10, after which the visiting team once again started to widen the gap. Several aces by Leys and Grobelna pulled Belgium even farther away, the latter shaping up the final 25-17.
The Turks built up and maintained a 3-point lead for a while at the beginning of the third set, but Belgium caught up at 11-11 and by the second technical time-out the lead was reversed to 3 points in their favour. As if this set was not already the most interesting one so far, the home heroines once again pulled their act together, not only to tie it at 21-21, but also to win the next rally and regain the lead. However, the Belgians went on a 3-point run to reach match point and two rallies down the road were already rejoicing as victors with 25-23 in the final set.
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