Vargas carries Türkiye to their first Olympic semifinal with 42 points

Türkiye’s wait to see their country’s women’s volleyball national team compete for medals at the Olympics is set to come to an end as, on Tuesday, the Europeans secured their spot in the semifinals of the Paris 2024 Games with a massive win over China.

In a rematch of the 2023 Volleyball Nations League final, the Turkish started behind, but counted on a highly productive performance from star opposite Melissa Vargas to come back and overcome the Asians 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12) at the South Paris Arena 1.

With that, Türkiye are set to compete in the Olympic semifinals for the first time in just their third appearance – they were ninth in London 2012 and fifth in Tokyo 2020. In Paris, the Turkish will face either Italy or Serbia, who meet later on Tuesday in another quarterfinal, for a spot in the gold medal match on Thursday at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT).

“We lost to Korea in a very frustrating way in the quarterfinals in Tokyo three years ago and we didn’t really know if we would be able to recover from that disappointment as a team,” outside hitter Meliha Diken commented. “But today we made history and overcame the quarterfinal, which is the hardest game at the Olympics, and I am really proud of my team because we made it. We’re here to win a medal and I’m confident we all found our game today and will play even better in the next matches.”

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

The victory also gave the Turkish 6.68 FIVB World Ranking points, moving them up from fourth to third place in the list, with 367.97 points. China continue in fifth, now with 350.30.

Playing in her first Olympics, the 24-year-old Vargas was the main responsible for the Turkish victory as she had the second-highest scoring performance of a woman in the Games, tallying a mind-blowing 42 points, with 38 kills, two blocks and two aces.

“Melissa is for sure one of the best players in the world and I’m so happy to be her coach,” head coach Daniele Santarelli said. “What sets these players apart is their ability to perform in big matches and she did it today and was huge for us. We’ve been struggling with our hitters and we’ve been trying to find solutions, but she’s been helping us a lot in difficult moments and I hope it continues this way until the last point of the Olympics.”

Outside hitter Hande Baladin, who scored 13 points (11 kills, one block, one ace), libero Gizem Örge, who registered 21 digs, and setter Elif Şahin, who came off the bench to replace injured starter Cansu Özbay, were other standouts on the Turkish side.

China had outside hitter Li Yingying delivering most of the team’s production, with 25 points (19 kills, five aces, one block). Fellow outside hitter Zhu Ting, with 19, and opposite Gong Xiangyu, with 18, were also very effective.

“It’s frustrating because we had the opportunity to win this match,” Li reacted. “It was a very competitive and exciting match, just as we expected. Unfortunately, we didn’t play as well as Türkiye did in the decisive points in the tie-breaker and missed our chances to win.”

Boosted by Vargas’ incredible performance, the Turkish offense was key to their victory as they outscored China by 78 points to 66 in that skill – the Europeans also had the edge in aces, by nine to seven. The Asians got the most blocks (12 to eight) and also benefited from more opponent errors (22 to 15).

Three more quarterfinals on Tuesday

The Turkish victory just started what’s going to be an intense day at the South Paris Arena 1, with all four women’s quarterfinals. The next duel to take place will reunite Brazil and the Dominican Republic, starting at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT).

Later, at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT), defending champions the United States will meet Poland. Scheduled for 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT), the last match of the day will reunite European rivals Italy and Serbia.

Quick links:
Olympic Games Paris 2024
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter