2026 Nations League: Turkey women's volleyball team edges China 3:2

The matches of the second week of the women’s Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2026 have come to an end in Ankara. In the final, highly tense match of the home stage, the Turkish national team (the “Sultans of the Net”) defeated China 3:2. The game was dramatic: after winning the first set (25:21), the hosts lost the next two sets in close battles (26:28, 23:25). However, the Turkish players managed to seize the initiative, comfortably took the fourth set (25:16) and closed out the tie-break against their opponents — 15:12.

This victory was the Turkish team’s sixth in the current Nations League campaign. Earlier in Ankara, the team had successively beaten Belgium (3:0), France (3:0) and Germany (3:2), fully redeeming themselves after a shaky start in the first week in Brazil, where they recorded wins over the Dominican Republic and Bulgaria and defeats to the Netherlands and Italy. Turkey will play its third-week matches in Japan from July 8 to 12. As a reminder, the eight best teams in the standings after the three preliminary stages will advance to the final phase, which will be held in Macau from July 22 to 26.