Beşiktaş Come Back From 2–1 Down to Beat Zeren Spor 3–2

Beşiktaş recovered from 2–1 down to beat Zeren Spor 3–2 in Ankara. Jolien Knollema scored 27 points, Polina Shemanova added 23 and the visitors took the tie-break 15–8.

Last updated
ResultZeren Spor 2–3 Beşiktaş
CompetitionVodafone Sultanlar Ligi (Türkiye) · Round 6
Sets23–25, 28–26, 25–22, 24–26, 8–15
PlayedNovember 1, 2026 · TVF Ziraat Bankkart Voleybol Salonu, Ankara
Duration2h 36m · Attendance 1,000

Beşiktaş came back from 2–1 down to beat Zeren Spor 3–2 in Ankara on November 1. The visitors won the opening set 25–23, lost the next two, then took a 26–24 fourth set and the tie-break 15–8. It was Beşiktaş’s second league win of the season.

Jolien Knollema led Beşiktaş with 27 points and Polina Shemanova scored 23. Iman Ndiaye added 13 and Merve Atlıer 11. Zeren had the match’s top scorer in Anna Nicoletti, who finished with 30 points, while Sarah Franklin added 18.

Beşiktaş force a fifth set

The first four sets stayed close enough that neither team could settle the match early. Beşiktaş took the first 25–23. Zeren answered with a 28–26 second set and then moved ahead 2–1 by winning the third 25–22.

That left Beşiktaş needing the fourth set to stay in the match. They won it 26–24 and did not need another extended finish in the fifth. The tie-break ended 15–8, giving the visitors the final two sets after Zeren had moved within one set of victory.

The five-set scoreline also shows how little separated the teams across most of the afternoon. Through four sets, Zeren had actually scored one more point overall, 100–99. Beşiktaş then won the tie-break by seven, turning the full-match point total into 114–108.

Beşiktaş’s official match report lists Buket Gülubay, Iman Ndiaye, Polina Shemanova, Jolien Knollema, Emine Arıcı, Merve Atlıer and libero Simay Kurt in the starting group. The same core group carried most of the scoring load through the five sets.

Beşiktaş win more points in attack

The official VolleyStation match data gives Beşiktaş a 72–62 advantage in attack points. Zeren actually finished ahead in blocks, 14–11, and also had a small edge in aces, 4–3. Beşiktaş’s extra production came from attack rather than from serving or blocking.

The team efficiency figures were much closer than the raw attack-point difference. Beşiktaş recorded 38% kills and 23% attack efficiency across 192 attempts; Zeren were at 35% and 22% across 178. The visitors generated 14 more attacking attempts and finished 10 kills ahead, while the overall efficiency gap remained small.

Knollema scored 25 of her 27 points in attack. Shemanova had 21 attack points in her 23-point total. Together they supplied 46 of Beşiktaş’s 72 attack points, with Ndiaye and Atlıer providing another 19 between them.

The player-level efficiency data adds useful context to those totals. VolleyStation records Shemanova with 21 kills from 50 attacks, a 42% kill rate and 32% attack efficiency. Knollema had 25 kills from 63 attempts, with a 40% kill rate and 24% efficiency. Those were large workloads over a match that lasted five sets.

For the complete serve, reception, attack and block breakdown, VolleyStation’s full player-by-player efficiency table contains the all-set figures for every player used in the match. The same match center also provides the home-team table and the official scoresheet.

Nicoletti scores 30 for Zeren

Nicoletti finished as the match’s leading scorer despite the defeat. Her 30 points included 27 attacks, two blocks and one ace. VolleyStation records 27 kills from 73 attempts, a 37% kill rate and 19% attack efficiency.

Franklin scored 18 points, including 15 in attack. Dicle Nur Babat added 11 and was particularly productive at the net: five attack points from eight swings, five blocks and one ace. Annamarie Dodson finished with 10 points, including three blocks.

The efficiency report also shows how much work the outside hitters carried away from scoring. Shemanova handled 26 receptions without a recorded reception error for Beşiktaş. Franklin received 59 serves without a recorded error for Zeren while also taking 55 attacking swings. Those workloads are easy to miss in a points-only summary.

That front-row production helped Zeren win the block count. Babat’s five blocks alone were more than any Beşiktaş player recorded, and Zeren had three more winning blocks as a team. It was not enough to offset Beşiktaş’s ten-point advantage in attack scoring.

The contrast between the main wing attackers is also visible in the efficiency table. Nicoletti carried the biggest volume in the match with 73 attempts. Franklin took 55. Beşiktaş used Knollema 63 times and Shemanova 50, but both finished with higher kill percentages than Zeren’s two leading wing scorers.

Four Beşiktaş players reach double figures

Beşiktaş had four players in double figures. Knollema and Shemanova did most of the heavy scoring, but Ndiaye’s 13 points and Atlıer’s 11 kept the attack from becoming a two-player job.

PlayerTeamPointsAttack pointsBlocksAcesAttack efficiency
Anna NicolettiZeren Spor30272119%
Jolien KnollemaBeşiktaş27252024%
Polina ShemanovaBeşiktaş23212032%
Sarah FranklinZeren Spor18152122%
Iman NdiayeBeşiktaş13112014%
Dicle Nur BabatZeren Spor1155150%
Merve AtlıerBeşiktaş1182125%

The table is not a ranking of the players. Babat’s 50% efficiency came on only eight attacks, while Nicoletti, Knollema, Shemanova and Franklin carried much larger attacking volumes. The percentages are most useful alongside workload and total points rather than on their own.

Beşiktaş move above Zeren in the table

After Round 6, the Turkish Volleyball Federation table listed Beşiktaş ninth with seven points from six matches and a 2–4 record. Zeren were 11th with six points, also at 2–4. The five-set result gave Beşiktaş two league points and Zeren one.

Both teams return quickly for Round 7 on November 4. TVF’s schedule has Beşiktaş hosting Eczacıbaşı Peron İstanbul at Burhan Felek, while Zeren travel to İzmir to face Göztepe Yuppo.

References

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *