Vargas makes an immediate impact for Türkiye on VNL debut

Türkiye’s Volleyball Nations League 2023 debut took place in a very festive atmosphere in Antalya on Wednesday, and that wasn’t just because of the team’s emphatic 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 26-24) win over Korea in Pool 1.

The long-awaited debut of star opposite Melissa Vargas with the Sultans of the Net lived up to the expectations of the thousands of fans that packed the Antalya Sports Hall and created a very positive perspective about the future of the team in the VNL 2023.

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A Turkish champion with Fenerbahçe Opet, the 23-year-old Vargas was in excellent form in her first time wearing the No. 4 red jersey of the country’s national team. The Cuban-born opposite returned to international competition for the first time since 2016 and pleased her new home fans with a strong performance.

Vargas played all three sets against the Asians and left the court as the match’s top scorer with 15 points (13 kills, one ace, one block). She was also very effective offensively, converting 13 of her 21 swings into points, hitting at a 61.90% efficiency rate.

“I’m happy that we won our first VNL match and started the season with a victory,” Vargas commented after the end of the match. “It was great to play in front of the Turkish fans. They supported us the entire time and I’d like to thank them for that.”

Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results

Turkish star Ebrar Karakurt came off the bench during the second set and also did well, scoring nine points and hitting at a 50% efficiency rate. The two will be of great importance for Türkiye on Thursday, when the hosts face reigning world champions Serbia in their second Pool 1 match, at 20:00 local time (17:00 UTC).

“We’re still very far from our goal and perhaps some players who were with their clubs until a few days ago still need some more work to do,” head coach Daniele Santarelli commented. “But it was very important for us to win today for the fans who did a great party, for the players and for the Federation, which is doing a great job in hosting this event. But it was just the first match and tomorrow we have another big one coming up.”

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