Clutch Koga propels Japan to overcome Türkiye in a thriller

Japan needed a lot of mental strength and every bit of concentration to stop Türkiye’s reaction in the tie-breaker and secure a five-set win in the first match of both teams in the third and final week of the Volleyball Nations League 2023 Preliminary Phase, on Wednesday, in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Asians seemed in control after they won the first two sets, but saw the Europeans come back and even the score before they prevailed on the tie-breaker to walk away from the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium with a 3-2 (25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 15-9) win.

• Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 live on VBTV

With six wins in nine matches and 18 points, the Japanese are now in seventh place, firmly in the mix to secure a spot in the VNL 2023 Finals – the eight best teams in the Preliminary Phase will advance. Türkiye also have six victories, but, with 20 points amassed, currently rank fourth.

Team captain and outside hitter Sarina Koga came up big for the Japanese, emerging as the match’s top scorer with 25 points. The 27-year-old player got 22 kills, two aces and one block, getting as many as six points in the tie-breaker.

Outside hitter Mayu Ishikawa, with 19 points, and opposite Miyu Nagaoka, with 12, were other standouts in a Japanese team that saw as many as eight players leave the court with points to their names.

“I think all of us delivered the best game we could today,” middle blocker Airi Miyabe said. “We made a lot of substitutions in this match and I think our teamwork was the reason we won today. That’s what we train for. We don’t have the tallest players, so our strength really is in our team. We need to be together to face strong teams like Türkiye.”

Without opposite Melissa Vargas, Türkiye got 19 points (17 kills, two blocks) from fellow opposite Ebrar Karakurt. The team's middle blocker duo also worked well, combining for 29 points (15 from Zehra Gunes and 14 from Eda Erdem) and impressive 13 blocks.

Blocking, indeed, represented the biggest difference between the teams in the match, with Türkiye getting 17 points to Japan’s nine. The Europeans also got more points from opponent errors (26 to 22) while the Asians were dominant in kills (67 to 61) and aces (four to one).

Türkiye will be back on the court on Thursday to face hosts Thailand at 20:30 local time (13:30 UTC) while Japan’s next match will be on Friday, at 17:00 local time (10:00 UTC), against the Netherlands.

**Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results**

In Suwon, Korea, the second day of action on Pool 5 saw an incredible duel between VNL 2023 leaders USA and second-placed Poland. The Americans were on the winning side of a five-setter, prevailing 3-2 (17-25, 25-15, 27-25, 28-30, 16-14) to remain at the top of the standings with eight wins in nine matches.

Opposite Annie Drews and outside hitter Kelsey Robinson carried the American offense as the Tokyo Olympic champions tallied 20 points each. The top scorer of the encounter, however, was Polish opposite Magdalena Stysiak, who left the court with 28 points.

In another match in Korea, reigning world champions Serbia had star opposite Tijana Boškovic and veteran setter Maja Ognjenovic on the court for the first time in the VNL 2023 and secured a 3-1 (25-13, 17-25, 25-23, 25-20) victory over China in their first match in the last week of the Preliminary Phase.

Boškovic was in top form in her first match in the season, tallying a match-high 25 points (24 kills, one ace) in the Serbian victory – middle blockers Jovana Stevanovic and Mina Popovic added 13 and 12, respectively. China got 18 points (all in kills) from outside hitter Yingying Li and 13 (nine kills, one ace, three blocks) from middle blocker and team captain Xinyue Yuan.

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