FC Porto lose 3-2 to Benfica in semi-final opener | OneFootball

FC Porto’s women’s volleyball team were beaten by Benfica, 3-2, in the opening match of the Liga feminina play-off semi-finals. With this result, the Porto side are now forced to make up ground in the second match of the best-of-five tie, which will take place in Lisbon.

With Milana Bozic, Natalia Murek, Saska Durovic, Mika Grbavica, Victória Alves and Kelsey Veltman in the starting six, along with libero Beatriz Basto, FC Porto made the better start. The blue-and-white side were effective in blocking and attack, took an early lead on the scoreboard (9-5), managed to contain Benfica’s attempts throughout the set, stayed consistent on serve and wrapped up the 1-0 after 43 points (25-18).

The second set told a very different story: a poor start left the Porto side six points behind (7-13), Miguel Coelho brought on Lila, Shainah Joseph and Jasmine Rivest in place of Milana Bozic, Mika Grbavica and Victória Alves, and the Portuguese Cup winners still pushed the set all the way to the end (24-24), but the visitors eventually levelled the match (1-1).

The third set began in much the same way as the second, and FC Porto needed the support of a nearly sold-out Dragão Arena to come back from a four-point deficit (15-19) in time to regain the lead on the scoreboard (25-23).

The fourth set was the most one-sided of them all and, already seven points behind (4-11), Miguel Coelho began to reshuffle the team. Jasmine Rivest once again replaced Victória Alves, before Lila Durão and Mika Grbavica came in for Milana Bozic and Shainah Joseph, and with Ana Rui Monteiro and Joana Resende already on court, the home side tried to respond, but without managing to undo the damage (12-25).

With everything still to be decided in the tie-break, the regular-season leaders trailed by five (2-7) and still managed to turn the score around (11-8), but ended up letting victory slip away in the closing stages of the निर्णसive set (15-17).

The second semi-final match will be played at Pavilhão No. 2 da Luz from 8pm on Friday (BTV).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.