Türkiye too much for Italy, sweeps way into VNL semifinals against USA

ARLINGTON, Texas — Too much Melissa Vargas.

The hard-htting opposite had 14 kills, a block and an ace Thursday afternoon as Türkiye routed Italy 25-20, 25-15, 25-18 in the Volleyball Nations League quarterfinals.

The tall and powerful Turks will play the USA in Saturday’s second semifinal after Poland plays China, which earlier Thursday beat Brazil.

Türkiye’s balanced attack include six kills and five blocks by Eda Erdem. Zehra Gunes had two kills and six blocks to go with two aces and Ebrar Karakut had seven kills and a block. Türkiye had a 16-6 blocks advantage.

Italy rarely got much going in the sweep inside College Park Center on the campus of Texas-Arlington. Francesca Villani had nine kills and two aces, Sylvia Nwakalor had eight kills and two blocks, and Alice Degradi had seven kills.

Türkiye is now the only team to make the semifinals in all five editions of VNL.

When the USA and Türkiye meet, it’s usually a battle. The Americans won their VNL meeting, 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 11-25, 15-9, on xxx in Antalya, Türkiye, which was the xx match of the first round.

In that match, Annie Drews had 17 kills and two aces, Avery Skinner had 16 kills, and Khalia Lanier had 11 kills and a block. Karakut had 20 kills, two blocks and four aces, and Vargas had 21 kills, a block and three aces.