Turkey still in contention for semifinal berth

Tijuana, Mexico, October 8, 2013 – Turkey collected three important points to stay in contention for the semifinal round in defeating Mexico 3-1 (25-7, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19) in a match of Pool A at the Baja California High Performance Center on Tuesday night.

Turkey plays against Japan on Wednesday with the chance to enter among the four finalists with a victory against the undefeated Asian team.

Gozde Yilmaz and Nur Yurtdagulen topped Turkey with 15 and 11 points, respectively, while Cansu Cetin added 10. Turkey registered 9 serving aces with Yilmaz and Cetin leading the way with 4 and 3, respectively.

Alejandra Isiordia and Andrea Rangel finished the match with 15 and 13 points for Mexico, a team that gave away 31 points via unforced errors.

Gozde Yilmaz, Captain of Turkey: It was a hard game playing against Mexico at home. They made good serves and also good defensive plays to take the second set. We are happy with the victory and ready for an important match against Japan tomorrow.

Alejandra Perales, Captain of Mexico: I think we played our best match of the tournament. It was good to win that very complicated second set. I think peopleleft happy with the way we played. Their size and serves made the difference.

Mehmet Bedestenlioglu, Coach of Turkey: After winning the first set so easily the girls lost their concentration and started to think about the match with Japan. Then their mind changed and we were able to collect this important victory. If we play well I think we have the chance to beat Japan.

Francisco Pineda, Coach of Mexico: It was a very complicated match because of the opponent and the previous losses. We couldn’t do anything in the first set but I will stay with the attitude and play we showed in the second, third and fourth sets. We showed what we are capable to.