#Turkey: Fenerbahce down reigning champions to take the lead in the semifinals, Arkasspor Izmir also ok.

Fenerbahce and Arkasspor opened the playoff semifinals with a straight sets victories over Halkbank and Galatasaray!

After winning the Turkish Cup starting from the eighth position in the standings, Fenerbahce (5th at the end of the regular season) also won the semifinal game 1 against Halkbank Ankara which had dominated the regular season.
Salvador Hidalgo led Fenerbahce to a great win over the reigning champions, scoring 15 points and being the most top scorer of the match: the Cuban (who with his arrival during the season changed the rhythm of the team together with the new coach Sordyl) was once again author of a very good performance with 57% in attack, 1 block and 2 aces. The 2 middle-blockers were also excellent: 12 points for Batur (71% in attack, 6 blocks and 1 ace), 10 points for Karasu (88% in attack, 1 block, 2 aces and no errors). On the other side, Drazen Luburic was the only player with a double digit display: 13 points for him.
Only in the second set, Halkbank gave their best but that was not enough to win the sets. Very interesting the final of this set: Fenerbahce suffered a partial of 0-4 from 24-21 to 24-25, but saves the set point and overturns the situation again with a Klinkenberg’s winning block (26-25) and an intelligent Hidalgo‘s attack which closes 28-26 the set.

After winning easily against the Istanbul BBSK in the quarter-finals, Galatasaray (its bomber Venno this time only with 38% in attack) ran into a bad day and was overwhelmed by Arkas Izmir of the unleashed Lagumdzija. He played at a high level to lead his team to an important win in the semifinal series: for the talented young opposite in fact it was one of the best seasonal performances: 23 points, 64% in attack, 3 winning blocks and 2 aces. Arkas simply smashed the rival in straight sets to take the lead in series.

Efelerligi, playoff semifinals:

Fenerbahce – Halkbank 3-0 (25:22, 28:26, 25:21) series 1-0
Fenerbahce: Kiyak 3, Klinkenberg 6, Batur 12, Ter Maat 11, Salvador Hidalgo Oliva 15, Karasu 10, Karatas (L); Yatgin 0, Unver 0. Not entered: Kurt, Ondes, Akdeniz, Dengin (L), Cupkvoic. Coach: Sordyl.
Halkbank: Baranowicz 2, Subasi 9, Kayhan 7, Luburic 12, Sket 5, Capkinoglu 2, Yesilbudak (L); Demirciler (L), Cam 1, Arslan Eksi 0, Quesque 7, Bayram 0. Not entered: F. Aydin, Kantarcioglu. Coach: Giuliani.

Galatasaray – Arkasspor 0-3 (18:25, 18:25, 21:25) series 0-1
Galatasaray: Keskin 2, Antonov 7, Ulu 2, Venno 14, Y. Aydin 8, Duff 8, Ayvazoglu (L); Cakir (L), Yonet 0, Gok 2, Gergye 1. Not entered: Siratca, Turkmen, Minici. Coach: Ozbey.
Arkas: Murilo Radke 2, Taht 4, Matic 7, A. Lagumdzija 23, Gulmezoglu 11, M. Koc 5, Mert (L). Not entered: M. Lagumdzija, Cevik, Joao Paulo Bravo, Sikar, Ergul (L), Kaya, Cengiz. Coach: Hoag.

Game 2 (April, 15)
Halkbank Ankara – Fenerbahce Istanbul (serie: 0-1)
Arkas Spor Izmir – Galatasaray Istanbul (serie: 1-0)

Eventual Game 3
Halkbank Ankara (1) – Fenerbahce Istanbul (5)
Arkas Spor Izmir (2) – Galatasaray Istanbul (3)

Formula
Quarterfinals and semifinals best-of-three, finals best-of-five

Other Results:

Semifinals 5th 8th place
Tokat Bld. Plevne (7) – Istanbul BBSK (6) 3-0 (25:23, 25:23, 25:22)
Top Scorers: Okello 22, Firkal 14, Bahov 12; Gungor 12, K. Cin 8, Coskun 7.

Ziraat Bankasi Ankara (8) – Maliye Piyango Ankara (4) 0-3 (18:25, 23:25, 21:25)
Top Scorers: Kazemi 11, Dogruluk 8, Savas 7; Yucel 15, N. Bruno 10, Sertel 10.

Program Game 2 (April, 13)
Istanbul BBSK (6) – Tokat Bld. Plevne (7)
Maliye Piyango Ankara (4) – Ziraat Bankasi Ankara (8)