Podgorica, Montenegro, June 12, 2015 - Turkey took a 3-2 (25-18, 24-26, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10) win over Puerto Rico in a tournament in Montenegro. The European side were stunned twice in the second and fourth set by the Puerto Ricans, but raced in the decider to a 15-10 victory.
Turkey opened the match in a storming way winning the first three points and forcing Puerto Rico's coach to call the time out. It was good decision, because his team fought back and went in front 7-6. Some amazing actions in the defence allowed Turkey to regain the lead 16-13 at the second technical time out and to take the first set 25-18 with Gungor Burak converting the second set point.
The second set started again in favor of Turkish team with 4-2 lead, however Puerto Rico managed to turn things around and went in front 8-5 at the first technical time out. The late stage of the second set saw a real drama when Puerto Rico were able to find another gear; despite being 24-20 down late in the set. Thanks to great blocks they won six points in a row from Maurice Torres, Hector Soto and Jackson Rivera and took the set 26-20.
The third set saw Turkey leading 8-4, but the opposite side shortly show their streghts and tied the score up at 8-8. With an ace from Ulas Kiyak Turkey cruised to 16-13 lead and didn't let the win slip away, however they earned two points in the late stage following two red cards for Puerto Rico's Hector Soto and coach Javier Gaspar finishing 25-20.
After an even start of the fourth set a spike and an ace from Hakki Capkanoglu gave Turkey a 6-5 lead. When snatching the advantage the European side controlled the game, but with 21-18 down Puerto Rico fought back with tenacity to win seven points in a row (with three points from Javier Gaspar) and to bring the score to 25-21. The Turkish team nonetheless prevailed in the decider taking it 15-10 and winning the match 3-2.
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