Türkiye secures QF spot with win over Dominican Republic

PARIS

Turkish women's volleyball team triumphed over the Dominican Republic 3-1 in their second match at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 1, clinching a place in the quarterfinals.

Despite losing the first set 21-25 at the South Paris Arena, Türkiye rallied to win the next three sets 25-18, 25-22 and 25-15.

Melissa Vargas once again made her mark on the event, mirroring her performance against the Netherlands.

Vargas, who became the 12th player in Olympic history to score 30 points in the match against the Netherlands, completed this match with 31 points, steering her team to victory.

Following Vargas in scoring were Eda Erdem with 14 points and İlkin Aydın and Hande Baladın, each with 10 points. Zehra Güneş, who had recently recovered from an injury, also played in the match against the Dominican Republic.

Erdem, the captain of the "Sultans of the Net," became the first Turkish volleyball player to reach 100 points in the Olympics.

"We couldn't get into the game a little bit in the first set but then we started scoring in every way," she told state broadcaster TRT after the match. "We started to be a little more aggressive in the second set and the needle turned in our favor."

She congratulated her teammates and the Turkish supporters in the stands. "The Italy match will be very tough but I believe we will play our best," she added.

Türkiye made an impressive comeback in their first match in Group C, coming from 2-0 down to defeat the Netherlands 3-2. The Dominican Republic had lost 3-1 to Italy in their first match in the group.

Türkiye is set to face Italy in their final Group C match on Aug. 4.

"It was a very important match for us to advance to the quarterfinals," Baladın told TRT. "We made mistakes outside of our tactics in the first set. Then we got motivated and displayed better team play."

In women's volleyball at the Paris Olympics, Group A includes the U.S., China, France and Serbia, while Group B consists of Poland, Japan, Brazil and Kenya.

The top two teams from each group, along with the best two third-placed teams, will advance to the quarterfinals.

The quarterfinals are scheduled for Aug. 6, the semifinals for Aug. 8 and the final for Aug. 11.

This is Türkiye's third appearance in the Olympics for women's volleyball. The team did not advance from the group stage in the 2012 London Olympics but finished fifth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.