Türkiye to wrap up first stage campaign with big game against USA

Defending champions USA will take on last year’s bronze medallists Türkiye in the women’s Volleyball Nations League 2022 opening match on Saturday’s programme in Calgary. Two of only four teams to have ever won VNL medals will lock horns in a remake of the 2018 final at 14:00 local time (20:00 GMT).

· Watch all VNL 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

Both teams are already qualified for the Finals set to run from July 13 through 17 in Ankara. As hosts, Türkiye were the first team with a guaranteed spot among the best eight of the tournament, while the United States were the first team to book their berth by scoring enough wins and points in the Preliminary Phase. The Americans top the current standings on a 9-1 win-loss record and 27 points, while Türkiye stand sixth on 7-4 and 22. On Friday, the Turkish team handed Japan their second defeat since the start of the VNL. Japan are the only team to have defeated USA so far in the competition. After that loss, the Americans have been on a six-game winning streak.

It will be the 21st encounter between USA and Türkiye in major world-level competitions. The Americans have won 16 of the previous 20, most recently at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game. After a five-set battle on July 21, 2021, coach Karch Kiraly’s squad claimed a 3-2 (25-19, 25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 15-12) victory over coach Giovanni Guidetti's team, with opposites Jordan Thompson of USA and Meryem Boz of Turkey scoring 18 and 19 points, respectively. Both of these players are in Calgary with a good chance to cross swords again on Saturday. The Americans went on to win the Olympic gold, while the Europeans reached the quarterfinals.

Earlier in 2021, the two teams met twice at the VNL in Rimini with USA taking two victories, by 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-15, 25-14) during the Preliminary Phase on June 14 (19 points by Thompson, 18 by Ebrar Karakurt) and by 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-20) in one of the semifinals on June 24 (9 points by VNL 2019 MVP Andrea Drews, 17 by Karakurt).

Those three US wins came after Türkiye’s last victory over the Americans, which they hammered out in straight sets during the VNL 2019 Preliminary Phase. The two teams also met three times in the inaugural VNL in 2018 and on all three occasions the games were pushed to five sets. The European side took the victory in the Preliminary Phase, while their opponents prevailed in the pool stage of the Finals and in the gold medal match. In fact, Türkiye are the only team to have defeated the United States twice in the VNL.

In addition to opposites Drews and Thompson, this week’s US squad in Canada features five more Tokyo Olympic champions – setters Jordyn Poulter (Dream Teamer at both the Olympics and VNL 2021) and Micha Hancock, outside hitter Kelsey Robinson, middle blocker Haleigh Washington (Tokyo 2020 Dream Teamer), and libero captain Justine Wong-Orantes (Dream Teamer at both the Olympics and VNL 2021). The team also includes middle blocker Tetori Dixon of last year’s American VNL roster.

At the same time, the Turkish line-up for Saturday’s game against USA includes as many as nine of their 12 Tokyo Olympians. In addition to opposites Karakurt and Boz, they are setter Cansu Ozbay, outsides Hande Baladin, Tugba Senoglu and Meliha Ismailoglu, middles Eda Erdem and Zehra Gunes, and libero Simge Sebnem Akoz.

It will be Türkiye’s last match of the Preliminary Phase, while the United States have one more game against Germany on Sunday.

Saturday’s programme in Calgary also includes games between Japan and Serbia and between Germany and hosts Canada. Earlier in the day, in the other pool in Sofia, the Dominican Republic will take on Poland, Brazil will meet Thailand and Italy will face hosts Bulgaria.

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Schedule and results

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