USA women sweep Türkiye to move into FIVB Worlds semis

The USA women swept Türkiye 25-22, 25-15, 25-20 in Gliwice, Poland, on Tuesday to advance to the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.

They’ll play unbeaten Serbia, which knocked out Poland in five sets later Tuesday. That match in Gliwice is at 2:30 Eastern and can be seen on VolleyballWorld.TV.

In the other semifinal Thursday in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Italy plays Brazil in a battle of 9-1 teams. Italy beat China in four, and Brazil beat Japan in five.

The Americans, 7-2 in the first two rounds of pool play, dominated throughout the match. The USA, hoping to win gold for the first time in eight years, finished second in 1967 and 2002, and took bronze in 1982 and 1990. The only USA gold medal came in 2014.

Ali Frantti led the USA with 15 kills, a block and two aces. She hit .423. Annie Drews had 11 kills and three blocks, and Kelsey Cook ha nine kills and a block. Jordyn Poulter had three blocks and an ace.

Ebrar Karakurt led Türkiye with 13 kills and three blocks.

“Our team had so much to be proud of today,” USA coach Karch Kiraly told USA Volleyball. “They were really engaged. They played with great effort. The execution was there, too. They executed a really strong gameplan. That was a great win against a very good team. They are very well coached by Giovanni Guidetti.

“We’ve got a quick turnaround. Looking forward to regrouping and doing as much as we can in terms of recovery and recharging. We will be watching the other quarterfinal and getting ready for what comes in a little more than 24 hours.”

VBM Staff