A brilliant blocking effort by Türkiye resulted in the first upset of the men’s FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers. Powered by opposite Adis Lagumdzija and their two middle blockers, the Turks downed Serbia on Saturday’s first competition day of Pool B in Tokyo.
Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Lagumdzija and blockers lead Türkiye to first upset in Tokyo
Slovenia, USA and hosts Japan also start with victories
Published 01:15, 30 Sept 2023
Three-man Turkish block against Serbia
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Number 14 in the FIVB World Ranking Türkiye raised as many as 17 kill blocks during the four sets of a victory over number nine Serbia. Compared to the opponents’ nine stuffs, this element proved key to the team’s success. The two main Turkish middle blockers authored 11 stuffs combined. Mert Matic produced six towards a 12-point tally, while Bedirhan Bulbul put away another five to finish with a total of 14 points. A third middle, Faik Gunes, who came in as a substitution, put up a successful block to deliver the match winner. Another five kill blocks came from the Lagumdzija brothers. Opposite Adis scored three blocking points towards a match-high 19 points, while outside hitter Mirza added another two to sign off with a total of 12 points.
While the Turks also made fewer errors (21 against 27) and did slightly better in attack (48-47 in kills), Serbia served four aces against three for the winners. Outside hitter Miran Kujundzic was their leading scorer with 17 points, including one ace. Star opposite Aleksandar Atanasijevic added another 13, also including one ace. Except for the second set, when Serbia had control from start to finish, each of the other three sets offered more suspense, with changes in the lead, before the Turks took the upper hand in the end.
“We are really happy to open the tournament with a win against Serbia today,” Adis Lagumdzija told Volleyball World. “As we know, they are a high-quality team and won many championships over the years, so this win is a big step up for us, the men’s volleyball team of Türkiye.”
Earlier on Saturday, Slovenia got the tournament started with a shutout of Tunisia. Their outside Klemen Cebulj shared the top scorer honours with Tunisian opposite Hamza Nagga. They finished on 15 points each. Cebulj’s tally included three aces and a kill block. Slovenian middle Alen Pajenk also reached the double digits with 10 points, including two aces and a block.
“It’s not easy to play this early in the day,” Slovenia’s captain Tine Urnaut commented. “We had early practices recently, but a game is a different thing. You are not as energetic and physically strong in the morning as you are in the afternoon, but it is what it is. We need to play our first four games at 10 o’clock in the morning and we’ll need to adapt to this. The goal is to go to the Olympic Games and we need to take it one game at a time, play ball after ball, set after set, and that’s the only way in such a long tournament. When you have clear goals, it’s very easy to adjust, to get motivated, to be disciplined... That’s the mentality we created through the years.”
One of the pool favourites, United States, also started their campaign with a straight-set win. The world’s number two team mastered a sweep of their opening game against Egypt. Outside Torey Defalco led the way with 17 points, including four aces and two blocks. Matthew Anderson and Aaron Russell also reached the double digits, with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Hosts Japan had a tough time against Finland. The world’s number five team wasted a two-set lead and allowed their opponents, ranked 28th, to push the match to a tie-breaker, before finally claiming a victory. Outside Ran Takahashi powered Japan with a match-high 23 points, including two aces and two blocks, while opposite Yuji Nishida impressed with five of the team’s 14 direct serving points towards a 16-point tally. Finland’s brilliant blocking was led by Miika Haapaniemi with six stuffs, Niko Suihkonen with five and Luka Marttila with two. These three players were also the team’s best scorers with 15, 16 and 15 points, respectively.
