Two Efeler Ligi games with the same shape: a settled visiting six with strong serving against a new home side whose reception has broken under serve pressure. Sultanbeyli and Sungurlu are both promoted or newly built squads still finding their rhythm. Gebze and Galatasaray kept their core units together. The question in both halls is how many sets the home side can keep close.
Gebze have used the same six in every official match this autumn. Tervaportti sets for Sotola, Gokgoz and Marttila, and serve pressure from mid-set is what breaks sets open for them. They have dropped one set in four official matches, and the scoring is spread across three attackers. Nineteen days ago that same six beat Sultanbeyli in straight sets, and each set was wider than the one before.
Sultanbeyli took over a licence in August and forfeited their opening home match. Their points come from two foreign attackers, Dirlic and Grozdanov, who both scored about twenty at Istanbul BB. In that five-setter they also gave away 25 points on their own errors and lost the last two sets after leading. Sungurlu beat Sultanbeyli and then took no sets off Gebze in two meetings. Gebze's serve against that error-prone reception is the deciding matchup, so I'm siding with Gebze to win comfortably.
Galatasaray kept their core: Ma'a setting for Maar and Koc, with Alonso and Mandiraci in the middle. They beat Ziraat this month, and their only heavy defeat came through two tight closing sets at Halkbank. Sungurlu rebuilt this summer around setter Yatgin and have taken one set in three games at this level, with some sets lost very heavily. Twice Gebze's serving broke their build-up.
Galatasaray's serve should do the same. If anything slips, it will be in the third set, where Galatasaray have drifted once before after going two up. Even then the visitors have the closers to finish it, so I'm siding with Galatasaray to win clearly in this one.
