VNL champions Türkiye triumph at European Championship

A season that had already gone into the Turkish women’s national team’s history books became even more special on Sunday, when the Sultans of the Net triumphed at the CEV European Championship for the first time.

Prior to reaching the top of the continent, Türkiye had claimed their first Volleyball Nations League title, winning the fifth edition of the tournament in July, and climbed to the top of the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Rankings, where they still remain.

The Turkish displayed nerves of steel to prevail in a dramatic gold medal match against two-time world champions Serbia in Brussels, Belgium, coming back twice to take the match in five sets (25-27, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 15-13) in front of more than 10,00 fans.

The Most Valuable Player of the VNL 2023, star opposite Melissa Vargas was also pivotal in Türkiye’s victory at the continental level, producing 41 points with 38 kills and three aces to win the scoring battle against Serbian star opposite Tijana Boskovic, who left the court with 37 (34 kills, two aces, one block). She took another MVP award home with her stellar performance.

Other players with strong performances in the gold medal match were Turkish middle blockers Eda Erdem and Zehra Gunes, who produced 15 points each and combined for nine blocks, and Serbian outside hitter Bianka Busa, who tallied 13, with nine kills and four blocks.

The Netherlands upset 2022 VNL champions Italy in three sets (25-23, 28-26, 25-20) in the bronze medal match and finished third, returning to the podium at the European Championship after two editions.

After finding success in the first two tournaments of the season, the Turkish will now focus on the Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifier, from September 16-24. The Europeans will play in Pool B, in Japan, and will compete with the hosts, Brazil, Belgium, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Peru for two spots at next year’s Paris Olympics.

Runners-up Serbia will be in China, where Pool A will be held, featuring them, the host country, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Canada, Czechia, Mexico and Ukraine.