For­mer T&T in­ter­na­tion­al vol­ley­baller Sinead Jack-Kisal, now a Turk­ish cit­i­zen, and Ecza­cıbaşı Dy­nav­it club will face off against Den­til Pra­ia Clube of Brazil in the first of two semi­fi­nals in the 16th FIVB Women’s Club World Cham­pi­onship at the Tian­jin Peo­ple’s Gym­na­si­um from 2 am (TT time) Sat­ur­day.

The sec­ond semi­fi­nal from 7.30 am will fea­ture four-time win­ners Vak­if­Bank Spor Ku­lubu and Chi­na’s Tian­jin Bo­hai Bank for spots in the fi­nal and third place play­off on Sun­day from 2 am.

This af­ter the Turk­ish duo of Ecza­cıbaşı Dy­nav­it and Vak­if­Bank Spor Ku­lubu topped their re­spec­tive three-team round-robin pools with 2-0 records af­ter a straight-set win in their de­ciders yes­ter­day.

In the last Pool A, a di­rect du­el for the top of the fi­nal pool stand­ings, Eczacibasi Dy­nav­it Is­tan­bul mas­tered a con­vinc­ing 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 shutout of Tian­jin Bo­hai Bank, dom­i­nat­ing in all scor­ing el­e­ments, but al­so com­mit­ting more un­forced er­rors (18 against nine).

Ser­bian op­po­site and cap­tain Ti­jana Boskovic was once again Eczacibasi’s lead­ing scor­er as she de­liv­ered a match-high 22 points, in­clud­ing two aces and two kill blocks, to­wards the vic­to­ry while Russ­ian out­side hit­ter Iri­na Voronko­va added an­oth­er 11 points for the team.

The trio of Hande Bal­adin, Jo­van­na Ste­vanovic and Jack-Kisal chipped in with nine, nine and eight points for Ecza­cıbaşı Dy­nav­it who lift­ed the ti­tles both in 2015 and 2016 and was third last year as they end­ed with a per­fect 2-0 record while Out­sides Li Yingy­ing and Wang Yizhu were Tian­jin’s most pro­duc­tive scor­ers with 12 points each for their 1-1 pool mark.

Jack-Kisal and two-time win­ners Eczacibasi Dy­nav­it who reached the semi­fi­nals for the sev­enth time in their his­to­ry opened their cam­paign with a 25-19, 25-11, 25-18 vic­to­ry over Brazil’s Ger­dau Mi­nas of Be­lo Hor­i­zonte on Wednes­day while Tian­jin Bo­hai Bank’s al­so de­feat­ed the same op­po­nents 25-22, 25-16, 25-20 a day ear­li­er.

In Pool B, Vak­if­Bank Spor Ku­lubu showed no mer­cy for Den­til Pra­ia Clube in their 25-16, 25-14, 25-19 sweep in Hangzhou.

Amer­i­can op­po­site Jor­dan Thomp­son had two aces and two kill blocks in the match and her to­tal tal­ly of 18 points put her on top of the scor­ers’ chart.

Brazil­ian out­side and cap­tain Gabriela Guimaraes raised three kill blocks and al­so reached the dou­ble dig­its on a to­tal of 11 points. Den­til Pra­ia’s op­po­site Tainara San­tos fin­ished with 17 points, in­clud­ing two aces.

Sat­ur­day’s re­sults:

Pool A:

Eczacibasi Dy­nav­it bt Tian­jin Bo­hai Bank 25-17, 25-23, 25-19

Pool B

Vak­if­Bank Spor Ku­lubu bt Den­til Pra­ia Clube 25-16, 25-14, 25-19

Re­main­ing match­es:

To­day (Sat­ur­day, De­cem­ber 16):

Semi­fi­nals:

Eczacibasi Dy­nav­it vs Den­til Pra­ia Clube, 2 am

Vak­if­Bank Spor Ku­lubu vs Tian­jin Bo­hai Bank, 7.30 am

To­mor­row (Sun­day, De­cem­ber 17):

Third place and fi­nal play­offs: 2 am & 7.30 am.