On Wednesday, Calcit KAMNIK of Slovenia will be hosting Turkey’s standout Eczacibasi Dynavit ISTANBUL in the first round of the #CEVCupW 8th Finals, with the return game due to follow on December 16 by the Bosporus.
The two-time world champions, whose resume includes CEV Champions League (2015) and CEV Cup (2018) titles, and 28-time Turkish national champions, arrived in Kamnik on Monday night. American opposite Jordan Thompson, who won the gold medal with the USA national team at this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, was not with the group – as the two sides parted ways only a few days ago.
Despite this, their roster still includes one of the best players in the world, Serbian Tijana Boškovic, and one of the world’s best setters as well, her compatriot Maja Ognjenovic, together with USA’s McKenzie Adams, Belgian national team middle-blocker Laura Heyrman and four other Turkish national team players. It is easy to say that such a strong team has never visited Kamnik before.
“We have already played against stronger teams, but in the Tivoli Hall in Ljubljana and at last year’s Champions League tournaments in Treviso and Nantes. However, we have never seen such a quality team before. It is true that Jordan Thompson is no longer with the team, but that does not change a thing. It is enough to mention only Tijana Boškovic and it is already clear what kind of team we are talking about.”
Gregor Rozman
Head coach of Calcit KAMNIK
This does not mean that the home players do not have their own plans. “It is certainly possible to play with Eczacibasi, even though it is an excellent team, with perhaps the best player in the world at the moment, the already mentioned Tijana Boškovic, one of the best setters in the world, Maja Ognjenovic, and many others. Even though they are not playing in the Champions League, they are among the top five teams in Europe. This does not mean that we will surrender in advance. We will have to look for our opportunities all the time, but we know that we will have to be extremely efficient with the service. If we do not push them away from the net, and even in such case, Boškovic, who solves such situations, is in the back, we cannot expect anything good. A good service is therefore the first condition if we want to get at least one set. Another thing that would allow us to do this, however, is good reception, which will be extremely difficult to achieve.”
“We will have to be at the top level at the service and reception, and everything else. My mantra is that we are able to take at least one set from them, and the team that succeeds can hope for two and why not three. It may sound unrealistic, but we are training for this, we are living for this match and I am sure that the girls will give their best on Wednesday.”
Gregor Rozman
Head coach of Calcit KAMNIK
As Eczacibasi is a clear favourite, the Kamnik team will be able to play relaxed, without any strain. However, this should not mean that everything is lost in advance, but vice versa. “I want them to play a match at such a level that they exceed their current abilities. However, the advantage will certainly be that the first match will be in Kamnik, as our hall is a bit specific, and they do not know us so well. All those things will be a tab on the scales for a set, two, or maybe even more. But these are above optimistic expectations, and a real little miracle would have to happen for all this to come true.”
Ferhat Akbas, who last year was at the helm of Chemik POLICE in Poland, is leading Eczacibasi. Having not won the title of Turkish national champion for ten seasons, this is their first goal this year. Eczacibasi are currently in second place in the Turkish championship after twelve rounds, trailing leaders VakifBank by two points. The third-ranked Fenerbahce has two defeats and the same number of points as Eczacibasi.
