EuroVolleyW 2023: Big comebacks and great EuroVolley debut in Dusseldorf

EuroVolleyW delivers many notable performance, however Friday was remarkable for a few reasons in Pool C in Dusseldorf. Volleyball fans could the see maiden EuroVolley performance of Melissa Vargas and enjoy in one game two big Volleyball comebacks, as Polina Rahimova returned to the national team of Azerbaijan once Helena Havelkova changed sandy courts to terraflex surface again.

One of the main title contenders, Türkiye opened their EuroVolleyW campaign with a straight-set win (25-22, 25-18, 25-13) over Sweden. The Sultans of the Net dominated over the net, recording as many as 61% of success in attack. The team around Daniele Santarelli also impressed with their performance from service line - as they served 10 aces! The game observed by almost two thousand Turkish fans was definitely emotional moment for Melissa Vargas, who for the first time had an opportunity to represent Türkiye at EuroVolley. In her maiden performance, Vargas scored magnificent 19 points (4 aces, 15 attacks - 63% of success in attack), being loudly cheered by the fans gathered at Castello Dusseldorf. In the second set she spiked with tremendous speed of 112 km/h, wowing the crowd.

Also, the second match of the day between Azerbaijan and Czechia was noteworthy as two volleyball stars returned to their national teams - Polina Rahimova and Helena Havelkova. Back in January 2020, Rahimova announced her retirement from the national team, but decided to return and represent her country again at EuroVolley. In the game against Czechia she topped the scorers' chart with 17 points, leading Azerbaijan to 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-10, 25-15).

On the other side of the net, Volleyball fans could see a big comeback. Helena Havelkova who last year started her journey with beach volleyball, but recently decided to leave the sandy courts and come back "home" to indoor volleyball. In the game against Azerbaijan she tallied 6 points (42% of success in attack).