Slovenia and Turkey clash for highest honours in Women's U23 Worlds

Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 16, 2017 - Hosts Slovenia will be looking at earning the country's first ever World Championship gold medal in any team sport here on Sunday and Turkey will be looking at redeeming themselves for their home defeat in the 2015 final when the two clash in the final of the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship here on Sunday.

Turkey came back from 1-3 down to outlast the Dominican Republic in seven sets on Saturday in dramatic fashion to get to play in back-to-back finals of the competition after their defeat at home in Ankara's Baskent hall in the final of 2015.


Turkey celebrate their dramatic win over the Dominican Republic that sees them through to their second straight Women's U23 World Championship final

And Slovenia followed up taking four sets in a row from Bulgaria after dropping the first and remain the only undefeated team in this year's edition after six matches.

All matches in Ljubljana are played under a new scoring system currently being tested: a best-of-seven, 15-point set format.



The Dominican Republic, who have been on the podium in both previous editions of the U23 Worlds with a silver in 2013 and a bronze in 2015 will take on Bulgaria for this year's bronze in Ljubljana's Arena Stozice.

For Bulgaria this is already an improvement on their previous best in the history of the competition - a 7th place in 2015.

Further down the rankings, Brazil downed Thailand in straight sets and will play against Cuba for 5th place after the Caribbean side outclassed China 4-1 on Saturday.

Brazil returned to victories after two straight losses which left them out of contention for the medals and a defence of their world title from 2015.

It is the second time the two meet in this year's edition after Cuba stunned Brazil 4-1 on the closing day of pool play to knock them out of the medals round.

Thailand and China will meet for 7th place. The two met last Sunday on the opening day of the tournament with China prevailing in four sets.



Both Sunday's medal matches will be streamed live on the FIVB YouTube Channel.





Summary Statistics - 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship

Highest Scorer by Day
30 – Aya Elshamy of Egypt v Dominican Republic on 10 September
22 – Aya Elshamy of Egypt v China on 11 September
22 – Madeline Guillen of Dominican Republic on 12 September
22 – Daniela Bulaich of Argentina v Dominican Republic on 12 September
24 – Sol Piccolo of Argentina v Egypt on 14 September
32 – Thanacha Sooksod of Thailand v Dominican Republic on 15 September
22 – Hande Baladin of Turkey v Dominican Republic on 16 September

Top Scoring Performances
32 – Thanacha Sooksod of Thailand v Dominican Republic on 15 September
30 – Aya Elshamy of Egypt v Dominican Republic on 10 September
24 – Gaila Lopez of Dominican Republic v Egypt on 10 September
24 – Sol Piccolo of Argentina v Egypt on 14 September
23 – Heidy Casanova of Cuba v Brazil on 15 September
22 – Aya Elshamy of Egypt v China on 11 September
22 – Madeline Guillen of Dominican Republic on 12 September
22 – Daniela Bulaich of Argentina v Dominican Republic on 12 September
22 – Hande Baladin of Turkey v Dominican Republic on 16 September

Top Individual Blocking Performances
8 – Mayany Souza of Brazil v Japan on 12 September
6 – Sasa Planinsec of Slovenia v Dominican Republic on 11 September
6 – Beyza Arici of Turkey v Japan on 14 September
6 – Asli Kalac of Turkey v Japan on 14 September
6 – Jineiry Martinez of Dominican Republic v Thailand on 15 September
6 – Mayany Souza of Brazil v Thailand on 16 September
5 – Mayany Souza of Brazil v Turkey on 11 September
5 – Gaila Gonzalez of Dominican Republic v Thailand on 15 September
5 – Beyza Arici of Turkey v Dominican Republic on 16 September
5 – Angelica Hinojosa of Dominican Republic v Turkey on 16 September
5 – Sasa Planinsec of Slovenia v Bulgaria on 16 September

Top Team Blocking Performances
19 – Turkey v Japan on 14 September
18 – Brazil v Japan on 12 September
18 – Dominican Republic v Thailand on 15 September
18 – Turkey v Dominican Republic on 16 September
16 – Argentina v Dominican Republic on 12 September
14 – Cuba v Bulgaria on 12 September

Top Individual Serving Performances
5 – Aya Ahmed of Egypt v China on 11 September
5 – Aya Ahmed of Egypt v Argentina on 14 September
5 – Irene Verasio of Argentina v China on 15 September
4 – Wipawee Srithong of Thailand v Argentina on 11 September
4 – Madeline Guillen of Dominican Republic v Argentina on 12 September
4 – Mariana Moriondo of Argentina v Dominican Republic on 12 September
4 – Eva Mori of Slovenia v China on 12 September
4 – Martina Guastavino of Argentina v China on 15 September
4 – Silvana Chausheva of Bulgaria v Turkey on 15 September
4 – Iza Mlakar of Slovenia v Egypt on 15 September
4 – Beyza Arici of Turkey v Dominican Republic on 16 September
4 – Anita Sobocan of Slovenia v Bulgaria on 16 September

Top Team Serving Performances
12 – Dominican Republic v Argentina on 12 September
11 – Thailand v Argentina on 11 September
11 – Argentina v China on 15 September
10 – Slovenia v Argentina on 10 September
10 – Slovenia v China on 12 September
10 – Egypt v Argentina on 14 September

Highest Scoring Sets
23-21 Argentina v Dominican Republic (1st set) on 12 September
21-19 Thailand v Dominican Republic (7th set) on 15 September
22-20 Argentina v Dominican Republic (6th set) on 12 September
19-17 Dominican Republic v Egypt (6th set) on 10 September
19-17 Slovenia v Dominican Republic (4th set) on 11 September

Highest Scoring Matches
222 – Dominican Republic v Argentina 4-3 (21-23, 12-15, 15-12, 17-15, 16-14, 20-22, 15-5) on 12 September
197 – Thailand v Dominican Republic 4-3 (9-15, 12-15 15-12, 11-15, 15-12, 15-11, 21-19) on 15 September
188 – Turkey v Dominican Republic 4-3 (11-15, 16-14, 11-15, 13-15, 15-7, 16-14, 15-8) on 16 September
186 – Argentina v Egypt 4-3 (15-10, 15- 16-14, 14-16, 13-15, 115, 15-11) on 14 September
175 – Bulgaria v Cuba 4-3 (10-15, 12-15, 11-15, 15-10, 15-10, 15-11, 15-6) on 12 September
167 – China v Argentina 4-2 (11-15, 13-15, 15-8, 15-11, 18-16, 16-14) on 15 September
166 – Dominican Republic v Egypt 4-2 (12-15, 15-6, 15-8, 15-12, 15-17, 19-17) on 10 September
163 – Bulgaria v Japan 4-2 (15-13, 13-1, 11-15, 15-13, 15-12, 15-11) on 10 September

Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017
FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017 - Schedule
FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship 2017 - Teams
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