Türkiye to play for Olympic volleyball bronze

PARIS

Turkish women’s national volleyball team will play Brazil on Aug. 10 for a chance to grab the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics after losing in straight sets to Italy in the semifinals.

The Italians were dominant against Türkiye, producing a 25-22, 25-19, 25-22 victory at the South Paris Arena on Aug. 8 night.

Paola Egonu continued to be the centerpiece in the Italian offense, producing a match-high 24 points.

Turkish scoring machine Melissa Vargas had a somewhat quiet night to her standards, leaving the court with 17 points to her name. With the opposite's limited offensive production, outside hitter Derya Cebecioğlu had a solid performance off the bench, delivering seven points.

"We really wanted to win this semifinal, but we couldn't because Italy were really calm while we couldn't control our game," Turkish captain Eda Erdem said.

"Even when we had the lead, we couldn't finish the sets. We're very sad now, but being in the semifinals is a great thing for us. We want to finish with a medal, I'm sure Brazil wants it too, but we'll do our best. We know them very well and we'll need to serve better because if they receive well, their side out is just too strong."

Brazil played the United States in the semifinals, losing 23-25, 25-18, 15-25, 25-23, 11-15.

Türkiye is seeking its first Olympic volleyball medal, while the Brazilians haven’t won gold since the London Games 12 years ago.

Türkiye coach Daniele Santarelli is aware that his team still has a difficult task at hand.

"Now we have the bronze medal match in front of us and we have to focus on that,” he said.

“No match we play in this tournament is easy, because we are playing with the best teams in the world. Now we have one bronze medal match left, and we want to win it.”

The Italian also asked the Turkish fans to continue their support.

"They may be angry with us or unhappy with our performance,” he said. “They can be sure that we are more upset than anyone else. We will try to finish the tournament in the best way for the Turkish people."

Türkiye will play Brazil in the bronze medal match on Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. Turkish time, while Italy and the U.S. will clash in the final on Aug. 11 at 2 p.m.