Türkiye bounce back with straight-set win over Canada

After their loss to Poland on Thursday, Türkiye bounced back with a shutout of Canada in Hong Kong on Friday to rise to third in the current Volleyball Nations League 2023 standings on a 5-2 win-loss record and 16 points, just below unbeaten leaders Poland and United States. Canada, on the other hand, are eighth on 3-4 and nine.

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Turkish opposite Melissa Vargas and Canadian outside hitter and captain Alexa Gray shared the top scorer honours of the match with 17 points each. Vargas’s tally included two aces and a kill block. Ebrar Karakurt added another 12 points towards the victory, while middle blocker and captain Eda Erdem raised three kill blocks and served two aces towards an 11-point tally, which also included the match winner. Canada’s opposite Kiera Van Ryk was the only other player to reach the double digits with 10 points.

Türkiye completely outspiked and outserved Canada in the first set and faced few issues in cruising to an emphatic 25-15 win, crowned by a blistering ace from Vargas for the last point. Set two was going pretty much the same way as the Europeans managed to open an eight-point gap. The North Americans’ resistance finally started showing some effect as they fought on to get back to within two before Vargas again closed the set with an off-the-block hit for 25-22. Spearheaded by Gray, Canada did not give up and showed their teeth, running off with a four-point lead early into the third set. Türkiye, however, caught up at 11-11 and then once again established complete control on the court to power on to victory with Eda hammering the last two points of the match, through the middle for 24-20 and with a slide attack for 25-20.

“We approached our game really strong today. We talked with each other and we had a good meeting about Canada. They are really dangerous. They have such good attackers like Gray, so we needed to serve well and play good block-defence. And our break points proved key to the game. After yesterday’s loss to Poland, this game became even more important for us, so we a very happy we won 3-0,” said Türkiye’s captain Eda Erdem after the match.

On Saturday, at 13:30 local time (05:30 UTC), Canada will take on Dominican Republic, while Türkiye’s next match is against the same opponent, but on Sunday at 17:00 (09:00).

Friday’s competition day in Hong Kong continues with a game between the Netherlands and table leaders Poland at 17:00 local time (09:00 UTC). Hosts China will then entertain Bulgaria at 20:30 (12:30). The day’s programme in Brasilia starts with a match between Japan and Germany at 14:00 local time (17:00 UTC), continues with either Korea or Croatia achieving their first win of the season as they go head to head at 17:30 (20:30), and ends with an encounter between Serbia and Thailand at 21:00 (00:00).

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

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