Two Sultanlar Ligi matches with opposite shapes. Besiktas are the stronger side against Goztepe, but their rebuilt team has not played a short match all league season, because it wins sets in runs and then leaks tight endings. Vakifbank against Galatasaray is a different story: a carried-over core and block against a Galatasaray reception that has wobbled since Sylla went off injured.
Besiktas first. Their attack produces whole sets, as it showed in sets won against Fenerbahce and Kuzey Boru, so the ceiling is there. The problem is closing: two fifth sets lost by three points in eight days, a deuce set lost to Kuzey Boru and another at Manisa. Both of their home league games ran long.
Goztepe's quick results came against an elite Vakifbank and a weak Manisa. Against a middling side at Ilbank they took a deuce set and played four. Their opposite Liabiodkina and outside Zhuang can win a set on a run, and Besiktas's closing lapses give them the opening. I expect Besiktas to drop a set somewhere in the middle of the match, which makes it four or five long sets. That's why I'm siding with a long match in this one, whoever wins it.
In the Vakifbank match, the key matchup is Galatasaray's reception against Vakifbank's serve and block. Since Sylla left the Aras match, Galatasaray lost three straight sets there and dropped the first set at home to Ilbank. Carutasu is in form and is their one real finisher, and they have taken a set in every match this season, so a stolen set is a fair expectation.
Two sets is a different matter. Over Vakifbank's last ten matches, only Eczacibasi, the top rival with a heavier serve, took two sets off them. The same Vakifbank core beat Galatasaray in straight sets three times last season, when Galatasaray still had Sylla. Once Guidetti's side lead, the block and in-match changes usually close it out. That's why I'm siding with Vakifbank to win with room to spare.
