Turkey’s ‘Sultans of the Net’ advanced to the last four of the European Volleyball Championships with a convincing win over the Netherlands on Wednesday evening.
Cheered on by 12,000 fans at the Ankara Sports Hall, the national women’s side put in a commanding performance to beat the much-fancied Dutch team in three straight sets. The scores for each game ending 25-20, 25-22, and 25-20 to Turkey.
The in-form Turks, ranked fifth in Europe and who beat Croatia in a pulsating match in the previous round, will now play co-tournament host Poland in the semi-finals. The Poles won a hard-earned match 3-2 against Germany in their quarter-finals.
The other two semi-finalists are reigning champions Serbia, who beat Bulgaria 3-0, and Italy, who triumphed 3-1 over Russia. They will play in the first semi-final at 5pm local time on Saturday 7 September.
Turkey versus Poland follows, at the same venue, with the game scheduled to start at 7.30pm local time.
Both semi-finals will be played at the Ankara Sports Hall. The final and third place games will be played a day later at the same venue in the Turkish capital.
