Fantastic crowd inspires Türkiye to first VNL win

An exhilarating home crowd of about 10 thousand in Ankara inspired Türkiye on the way to an emphatic start to their Volleyball Nations League 2022 campaign. Spearheaded by the attacks of Hande Baladin and Ebrar Karakurt, the home team mastered a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19) shutout of reigning European champions Italy.

“I am so happy. It was our first game playing at home,” said Karakurt right after the match. “I love all of these fans and I want to thank them, because we wouldn’t be as strong without them. We’ve had only two training sessions all together, so we have yet to grow a lot. We will take it step by step and we will try to improve with every game.”

· All VNL 2022 matches are streamed live on Volleyball TV.

Türkiye were among the best four teams at each of the previous three VNL editions, most recently claiming the 2021 bronze in Rimini. With this year’s Finals taking place in Türkiye for the first time, at this very same venue in Ankara, coach Giovanni Guidetti’s team looked well motivated to have another great VNL campaign and eventually aim at their first gold.

Türkiye quickly took control on the court. Mainly capitalising on the plenty of Italian unforced errors, they stayed in the lead throughout the first set and closed it off at 25-20 with Baladin hitting the winner.

The home team stepped up their efforts on all counts and continued to dominate during the next two sets. A powerful spike by Karakurt brought the second set to a set point, which was immediately converted to a 25-19 win by captain Eda Erdem hammering the overpass reflecting from a strong serve by Zehra Gunes.

Italy fought back and even maintained a slight lead during the first half of the third set. After 20-19 their way, Türkiye embarked on the final sprint and a closed the match at 25-19 after scoring five points in a row.

Türkiye outplayed Italy in all scoring elements. The attack made the biggest difference of 10 points (47 against 37). Outside hitter Hande Baladin took credit for three of her team’s four aces towards a match-high tally of 16 points, one clear of opposite Ebrar Karakurt. Türkiye’s middle blockers Eda Erdem and Zehra Gunes contributed seven kill blocks combined towards a 10-point tally each.

On Italy’s side, opposite Sylvia Chinelo Nwakalor produced 15 points, while outside Elena Perinalli finished with 11.

Türkiye’s next match is against China on Friday, June 3, at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT). At the same starting time, but a day earlier, on Thursday, Italy will take on the Netherlands.

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Full schedule

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