The European champions achieved a dramatic comeback and defeated Japan 3:1 in sets in the first semi-final of the World Championship in Bangkok. Thus, Turkey qualified for a World Championship final for the first time in its history.
In the decisive match, Daniele Santarelli's team showed character after trailing 0:1 in sets. The Turkish women turned the tide and closed the match with 25:16, 17:25, 18:25, 25:27. The fourth set was dramatic when the girls of Turkish coach Ferhat Akbaş were on the verge of taking the match to a tie-break, after leading 24:21, but Vargas and company did not think so, and after several successful attacks and blocks, they triumphed over the volleyball players from the Land of the Rising Sun.
The big star Melissa Vargas was once again an undisputed leader – she scored 28 points (26 in attack, 1 block, 1 ace) and topped the individual scorers' ranking of the championship with 119 points. Second was Japan's Ishikawa with 118. Captain Eda Erdem added 13 points, while for Japan, the top scorers were Wada with 22 and Ishikawa with 19.
In statistics, Turkey outperformed their opponent in blocks (12:6), and in attack, the two sides were almost even – 58:55. However, the Japanese had a slight advantage in defense (80 saved balls against 72).
Turkey's historic success happened before the eyes of our best international referee, Ivaylo Ivanov, who was the first referee for the match.
Thus, the European champions are now third in the world ranking, displacing Poland, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals. In the final, Turkey will contend with the winner of the other semi-final – Italy against Brazil.
Melissa Vargas: I just want to thank all the fans. Let's wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow we will try to play our best game.
Daniele Santarelli: I am proud of the girls, I am proud of everyone. Today we did a very good job. After a very bad set... Maybe we were very tense. We experienced so many emotional moments that we lost control over some of our skills. We knew the Japanese women are very technical and maybe they were one of the toughest teams for us because we are completely different from them. I tried to encourage the girls to have fun, to play in a completely different way. Okay, tactics are fine, technique is fine, but we had to be smart. We need to enjoy these moments. We don't play such a match often in our careers. That's why I told the girls: "Please, enjoy the moment."
