Montreux, Switzerland, May 30, 2015 – Turkey defeated the Netherlands 3-2 (29-27, 23-25, 25-13, 17-25, 15-13), while Japan swept Russia 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-13) at the semifinals of the Montreux Volley Masters 2015 at the Pierrier Sports Hall on Saturday.
The match between Turkey and the Netherlands had over 2,000 spectators, who witnessed thrilling rallies in the long five-setter. Turkey showed better resistance in the final set to claim the coveted gold medal match ticket that ended Netherlands coach Giovanni Guidetti’s winning streak of seven consecutive victories at the Montreux Volley Masters.
In the other semifinal match, Japan showed experience against their opponents Russia to keep a clean victory record in the tournament. Russia showed some courage in the match as they mounted well-time blocks and unleashed strong attacks. The reigning European champions, however, were not at par with the level of the Japanese players that day. Japan took advantage of their quickness and diversity of attacks that overwhelmed Russia in each set’s end game. Russia only managed to keep up with the East Asian in the first two sets but lost grip of their chances in the third set.
Meanwhile, Germany edged Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-19, 27-29, 26-24, 28-26), while Italy downed China 3-1 (27-25, 25-21, 15-25, 25-16).
The Dominicans performed well against the Germans at the net with 23 blocks that kept the match tight. Germany, on the other hand, endured this strong challenge and uncorked a much stronger barrage of spikes that led to their 3-1 victory.
Italy concluded the night with a 3-1 victory over China, to continue their win-streak over the China in two friendly matches played before the tournament. The Chinese youngsters could not keep up with the Italian youngsters, who scored crucial points to lift their squad to a convincing triumph.