Alessia Orro, first trophy in Turkey is a fairy tale

The first trophy won by Alessia Orro (4 points for her) in her Fenerbahce adventure is already a reality and a fairy tale. In a match that held breathless until the last exchange, the team in which the phenomenal Sardinian plays overcame VakıfBank on tie-break (after going down two sets) and won the AXA Sigorta Şampiyonlar Kupası for the sixth time in its history, thus becoming the most titled club in the competition.

Despite the heavy absences of Eda Erdem Dündar and Ana Cristina, the Fenerbahçe girls put forth heart, grit and a choral game that was able to turn around an uphill start to the competition. VakıfBank, in fact, had gotten off to a strong start, winning the first two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-21, taking advantage of defensive compactness and the excellent contribution of Boskovic and Markova.

The girls’ team was able to win the first two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-21, taking advantage of the defensive compactness and the excellent contribution of Boskovic and Markova.

The girls’ team was able to win the first two sets by scores of 25-23 and 25-21.

It seemed like the beginning of the end for Fenerbahçe, but that is where another match began.

With Vargas leading the way on serve and concrete support from Fedorovtseva and Hande Baladın, the yellow-blacks responded with pride and technique, taking the third set 25-19 and completely reopening the match. In the fourth set, after a sprint start (4-0), VakıfBank had tried to sew up the tear, but the Fenerbahçe girls held their nerves, closing 25-18 and dragging everything to the fifth and decisive set.

The tie-break was the perfect mirror of a hard-fought point-to-point match. Fenerbahçe made some early mistakes, immediately finding itself down 0-4, but with determination put the partial back in balance (8-8), taking advantage of some VakıfBank uncertainties in reception. Once again it was Vargas, with her insidious serves, who made the difference at key moments. The 18-16 final sealed a success worth its weight in gold. And worth…Orro.