Can Paola Egonu help VakifBank secure title in her maiden season in Türkiye?

From rising star to the top of European volleyball, it meant just a little step for Paola Ogechi Egonu, as VakifBank Istanbul’s opposite has taken the world by storm over the last few years, delivering timeless performances for her sides in the last seasons of the CEV Champions League | Women.

At only 24 years old, Paola Egonu has an outstanding resume, being the MVP of the European premium competition two times, in 2019 and 2021, when she was playing for Igor Gorgonzola Novara and Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano, as well as the MVP of the CEV EuroVolley 2021.

But questions were raised whether she had what it took to star for her first experience outside Italy, when she signed last summer for VakifBank Istanbul. New surroundings, star players and a lot of pressure were in the mix for Egonu when she joined the Turkish powerhouse, yet those doubters were proved wrong almost immediately, as the Italian star duly delivered in her first season.

The 24-year-0ld Italian superstar is no stranger of winning the CEV Champions League | Women, having led her sides to two trophies, first with Novara in 2019 and with Conegliano in 2021, boasting MVP-calibre seasons both times.

It is no surprise, therefore, that VakifBank are in the same situation right now, fighting for the title, as they knew Ogechi Egonu pretty well, having met her as an opponent in the last two SuperFinals, when the Italian superstar scored 80 points in the two matches, the first one secured by Conegliano with the second one sealed by VakifBank.

Needing to adapt to her new surroundings, Paola played in all of VakifBank’s 12 matches this season, having featured in 39 sets and it is no surprise that she is, once again, the top scorer of the CEV Champions League | Women this season, with 235 points, 31 more than Volero Le Cannet’s Vita Akimova, who is second.

The gap is huge in that respect and Egonu has the third best average number of points per set in this season, 6.03, only one of the three players to hit the six-point mark per set throughout the whole competition so far.

She has been picking up her form in superb fashion and was a crucial ingredient for VakifBank’s win in the semi-finals against rivals Fenerbahce Opet Istanbul, scoring 17 points in the first leg, lost by VakifBank, and 21 points – the top scorer of the game – in the second leg, when the Turkish side earned their tickets to the SuperFinals in Turin.

Paola will be buoyed by her return to Italy, with a third win in only four seasons in the CEV Champions League | Women only working in her favour towards cementing her status as one of the best players of the last decade.