EuroVolleyW: Romania plays Turkey on the opening day

The opening day of the CEV EuroVolley Women 2021 has arrived and the first date of competition of the continental tournament will feature two matches, one in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the other in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

While the meeting between Bulgarians and Greeks will certainly be interesting, the duel between Romanians and Turkish is arguably loaded with even more potential and intrigue as it features one national team that’s trying to return to the elite of the continent and another that is possibly experiencing its peak in terms of international success.

Playing at home in pool play will be one of Romania’s main assets at the EuroVolley 2021 as the team tries to improve from a 12^th-place finish in 2011, which is the best in the last decade. The Romanian hope is that the home-court advantage helps the team reach the Round of 16, as it did in 2019, but finishing better than fourth and, therefore, avoiding a matchup with a pool winner.

The performance of 18-year-old opposite Alexia Carutasu will be instrumental to the team’s success in the EuroVolley. The rising Romanian star has showed tremendous potential in 2021, leading her team Sistem9 Yeşilyurt to the title at the CEV Challenge Cup with an MVP performance and 47 points scored in the semifinals.

Turkey, might, however, prove just too much for the Romanians in their opening match. The silver medalists of the 2019 edition of the EuroVolley are in great form in 2021, having won a bronze medal at the Volleyball National League and finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics.

Head coach Giovanni Guidetti will feature a strong lineup for the EuroVolley, bringing back nine of the 12 players that played in the Olympic quarterfinals last month. Setter Naz Aydemir is the most notable absence in the Turkish roster, but the presences of star opposite Ebrar Karakurt, outside hitter Hande Baladin and middle blockers Eda Erdem and Zehra Gunes are more than enough to keep the Turkish among the medal favorites.