Türkiye had Ramazan Efe Mandiraci and Adis Lagumdzija as their leading scorers, as the 22-year-old outside hitter tallied 21 points (13 kills, six blocks, two aces) and the star opposite, 17 (15 kills, one block, one ace).
“We were very emotional on the first set, had a lot of support from our fans and started well,” Turkish setter and captain Arslan Eksi commented. “Canada started serving better on the second set and that leveled the game. We should have won the second set when we had a chance. We need to improve our passing and our side out, but for a first match on the VNL, although it wasn’t a great start, it showed we can do more.”
The result gave Canada, who are already qualified for the Paris Olympics, an additional 6.86 points in the FIVB World Rankings and kept them in 12th place. From Türkiye’s perspective, the setback further complicated their Olympic push as they were passed by Iran and now have to pass five opponents until the end of VNL 2024 Preliminary Phase to qualify.
Volleyball Nations League 2024: schedule and results
Canadians and Turkish will both play their next matches on Thursday, when Canada meet defending champions Poland at 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) and the Europeans battle the Netherlands at 20:00 local time (17:00 GMT).
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