Turkey emphatically shut out Japan for 2021 Women's VNL bronze

Turkey grabbed the bronze medal of the 2021 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League after an assertive performance to sweep Japan 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-17) on Friday evening at Italy's Adriatic resort of Rimini.

Turkey broke away even before the middle of the first set and by the second technical timeout had built up a six-point lead.

Japan never recovered from this deficit.

And Turkey never looked back.

Other than very briefly at the start of the first and third sets, Turkey were in the lead and in full control throughout the game and Japan failed to reach the twenties in any of the three sets.

Turkey matched the speed of Japan and defended well. And with Ebrar Karakurt on fire, both in attack (24/37 for 65%) and in blocking (four stuffs), it was actually simpler than anyone could have expected.

Karakurt's match-high score of 29 and an additional 13 from Eda Erdem, plus more blocking from Tugba Senoglu and Erdem sealed the deal for Turkey who finished on a monumental overall 58% (49/84) attacking efficiency.

Karakurt just missed out on an entry into the list of players to have scored 30 points or more in a single VNL game. One more point in the bronze medal match and she would have been the first player in the history of the competition to have achieved the feat in just three sets.

Sarina Koga was Japan's best scorer on 11 points.

It was Turkey's second VNL medal after their silver in 2018 when they lost to USA in the final. Turkey were also in the bronze medal match of 2019, but lost to China. For Japan this has been their first appearance in a VNL Final Four and has improved their best ever finish in the competition from 10th in 2018 and 9th in 2019 to 4th this year.

• Check out the full statistics, photos and post-game reaction in the Match Centre