Lausanne, Switzerland, May 27, 2019 - Turkey opened their 2019 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League campaign with some brilliant results which see them at the very top of the table, alongside their opponents in last year's VNL final, USA, with which they share identical records.
Turkey's 19-year-old opposite Ebrar Karakurt leads the side in scoring and stands 5th in the overall Best Scorers list with 56 points. But she's also currently the VNL's most efficient attacker, with 45 kills from 85 swings for 53% and joint-best server (alongside the Netherlands' Juliet Lohuis) with 7 aces, or an average of .7 by set.
But Karakurt remains unfazed by her personal success. Asked, upon the team's return to Istanbul after their week in Belgrade, if the numbers put any pressure on her, she was quite adamant: "Absoulety not," she said. "That situation encourages me to be much better."
Karakurt was more vocal on the team effort: "I can say that we have a good shape now. We are satisfied only with the result, not with the way we played at Belgrade in the first week of the VNL. We did some good things but at the same time we made also some terrible mistakes. On the last day, we played a very strong and good team like Serbia in front of their fans, but we did what we wanted and had planned against them and won the match. I'm so happy that we're 3-0 at the moment."
Setter Cansu Ozbay, responsible for Turkey's playmaking on the opening weekend, agrees.
"Our team's level is getting much better day by day but we still need to improve a lot. I'm happy that we got the three wins in the three games we played," said the 22-year-old, who currently trails only China's Diao Linyu in the overall setters stats of the VNL.
But the opening week is behind us now and both Karakurt and Ozbay look ahead to the remainder of the season, as Turkey prepare to host Russia, Japan and Germany for Week 2 of the VNL in Ankara.
"Of course, we always as a team want to win everything," said Karakurt. "I will try my best to do that with them and I'm sure I will help as much as I can."
"The VNL is a very long tournament," added Ozbay, who last year was named to the VNL Dream Team. "We want to play good volleyball and also show it to the world. We want to qualify to the Final Six and want to play the final again this year in the VNL."
"It was a huge honour to be selected 'Best Setter' last year, but the important thing is the success of the team."
She also looked further ahead, when Turkey plunge into the Olympic qualification process for a ticket to Tokyo 2020:
"I have wanted to participate in the Olympic Games since I was young," she said. "But we'll have to win our Olympic Qualification Tournament later this year. This is definitely my dream."
As Turkey enjoy their moment of glory after the opening week of the VNL, the two star players will continue to intimidate their opponents - not without the help of their 'good luck' strategies.
"I can't go out to the court without talking to my parents on the phone before the game," said Ozbay. And Karakurt would never dream of going on court without her necklace and bracelet.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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