Türkiye shocks Italy in the CEV EuroVolley 2023 Semi-Finals
News
Stunning afternoon in Brussels, as the semi-finals of the CEV EuroVolley 2023 provided a breath of fresh volleyball at the highest level.
Türkiye had come to EuroVolley 2023 on the back of a very successful summer, crowned with VNL gold, and their performances across the pool phase, and beyond gathered more and more momentum on the back of the confidence they had already accumulated.
On the other hand, reigning champions, Italy had regained their superstar, Paola Egonu and incorporated a new one, Ekaterina Antropova just a few days before the start of the competition. With all that, they have had a superb tournament so far and were coming into the semis looking to make another step towards retaining their crown.
We could see all of the above as the match had its first serve. Both teams looked like they belonged in the semis of the CEV EuroVolley 2023. Türkiye’s Ebrar Karakurt was on another level of excitement and motivation, her reactions however getting her a yellow card in a first set where Italy pulled away towards the back end of it to claim the lead in the match.
Santarelli’s “Sultans of the Net” were not going to let the match slip away from them and despite Vargas not having hit 100% of her potential, they claimed the second set and leveled the match. Italy continued with their incredible defense in the third set, closing down the diagonals that Türkiye was looking to exploit. The third set went Italy’s way and it looked like the match could go that way as well from the way the fourth set started.
Towards the middle of the fourth, Italy was leading by 4 points and we could already see the Italian crowd anticipating a huge celebration. Melissa Vargas and team Türkiye were not having it and they started pushing like never before, clawing their way back into the match and pushing it into a tie-break.
It was all about Türkiye from that point on and, with an extremely powerful crowd behind, they claimed their spot in the Final.
