Germany weather storm to claim first victory in Pool A, Türkiye edge combative Slovenia

Waiting for hosts Türkiye to take to the court of the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall for a second time since the start of the competition, Germany went through ups and downs in their matchup with outsiders Latvia – before eventually securing a much-needed 3-1 victory. Latvia, making their first EuroVolley appearance since 1997, have somehow been ‘adopted’ by the local audience in Istanbul, becoming some sort of ‘crowd favourites’ as they show with each day and performance that they truly belong to such an imposing and at times even challenging stage. Later in the day, with as many as 15,628 fans in attendance, hosts and defending champions Türkiye had to work hard especially in the first two sets to stand the challenge brought by an incredibly solid Team Slovenia – whose players could eventually not keep the same rhythm and intensity for the remainder of the match, thereby paving the way for Türkiye’s second win (this time by 3-1) in as many matches they have contested in Pool A this far. 

Latvia vs. Germany 1-3 (15-25, 18-25, 25-13, 15-25) 

These two teams had previously met once at EuroVolley, namely in the Pool Phase of the 1995 edition, which resulted in a 3-0 win for the Germans (15-9, 15-1, 15-2 – that was well before the introduction of the current rally point system). Germany and Latvia had not played each other since 2006 (!) when their paths had crossed in qualifiers for the EuroVolley due to take place a year later in Belgium and Luxembourg. They both had to regroup following 0-3 losses they had suffered at the hands of Slovenia and Türkiye earlier in the competition even though they obviously had left the court with very different feelings. Truly excited about every single opportunity to play at this level for the first time since 1997, Latvia had nothing to lose – whereas Germany had experienced a major setback in their matchup with Slovenia. 

After a fairly close start, Germany broke away in the opening set and cruised to a comprehensive 25-15 set win propelled by six points scored by Leana Grozer. The youngster, competing at EuroVolley for the very first time, had admitted to have talked to her illustrious father Georg the night before after the heavy loss to Slovenia and to have received words of encouragement. “He simply told me to keep going and bring all of my emotions to the court, just as he has always done,” Leana said in the pre-match interview. 

The second set was a more cagey affair, with Latvia displaying their solid defence-block work that fans had witnessed also in their matchup with Türkiye to keep the pace of their opponent for quite some time before Germany found another gear (21-14), thereby prompting a timeout by Latvia’s head coach Daniele Capriotti. The Baltic team managed to score a few more points after the break but Germany eventually doubled their lead in the match following a powerful back-row attack by Hanna Orthmann (25-18). Lina Alsmeier scored four points for Germany in this set – just as many as Latvia’s top player Marta Kamelija Levinska. 

Levinska (12 points) was the major force that Latvia could count on as they delivered a superb performance in the third set, much to the delight of the Turkish crowd slowly coming together for the subsequent match between the hosts and Slovenia. Latvia also used Germany’s errors to their advantage to re-open the match with a massive 25-13 set win. The underdogs remained in contention also in the early stages of the fourth set before Germany finally found some more consistency and quality to secure their first victory in the group. Yet, the Latvians had many positives to take from this match, including the vocal support they had enjoyed from the local fans. Levinska top scored in the end with 24 points as Grozer and Alsmeier scored the most points for Germany (17). 

Slovenia vs. Türkiye 1-3 (21-25, 25-22, 17-25, 16-25) 

Slovenia showed no fear and even rushed to a 7-4 lead which was soon cancelled by Melissa Vargas though while the Cuban-born player was standing behind the service line. The silver medal winners from this year’s European League continued to push and stayed level with their mighty rivals up to 18-all. This is where the class and experience of the hosts came to the fore as they scored seven of the next 11 points – with the set sealed by Ilkin Aydin and ending with Vargas recording an impressive personal tally of seven points, including one ace. 

With a massive crowd including some celebrities from the local showbiz in attendance, in their first-ever EuroVolley matchup with Türkiye, Slovenia’s relentless fight continued in the second set where they secured a small advantage (14-12) with the help of Masa Pucelj and Fatoumatta Sillah, thereby forcing a time-out by Türkiye’s head coach Daniele Santarelli. Slovenia further increased their lead with an ace by Sasa Planinsec (17-14) before a massive block by Zehra Günes on Sillah and a mistake by Nika Milosic restored full equality (18-18) shortly afterwards. In a series of continuous turnarounds, Slovenia edged ahead again (20-18), Türkiye fought back but another ace by Pucelj paved the way for three set points – with Planinsec silencing the noisy crowd for 25-22.  

As the match progressed and especially after the second half of set 3, Türkiye settled more and more in – as the score moved from 8-6 to 16-10 in their favour. Zehra Günes was especially effective with as many as six points to her name, including two blocks, as Vargas and Aydin added three apiece towards a 25-17 win that was not to be taken for granted at all in the earlier stages of the set. The plot did not change much in the fourth set with the home side powered by the crowd towards a 13-6 advantage as Slovenia could no longer keep the same rhythm and display the same consistency showed earlier in the match. Not yet used to compete at this level, Slovenia ran a bit out of fuel with Türkiye’s play well orchestrated by Elif Sahin – who had replaced the starting setter, Cansu Özbay, who had been feeling unwell. Vargas top scored in the end for Türkiye with 19 points, as Maša Pucelj recorded 17 for Slovenia.