WARSAW, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkey advanced into the final of the European Olympic women's volleyball qualification after beating Poland 3-2 in a thrilling game in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands on Saturday.
With the victory of 19-25, 25-18, 23-25, 33-31 and 15-11, Turkey is one step away from securing the European continental lone ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Polish side, who had wanted to take revenge on their rivals as they lost to Turkey in the 2019 European Championship semifinal, had made a perfect start to the eight-team tournament with three victories in Pool A.
In Saturday's semifinal, spiker Magdalena Stysiak led Poland to victory in the opening set with seven points, but the Pool B second-placed Turkish team reacted very well to make it 1-1.
After Giovani Guidetti's side made a string of unforced errors to concede the third set, both teams had a prolonged fourth set where the Poles failed to convert their five match points as Turkey blocked Malwina Smarzek-Godek over the net.
Turkey went on to win the final set with spiker Meryem Boz scoring the team-high 36 points and Eda Erdem Dundar contributing 10 killing blocks for the European runner-up.
"We gave our hearts on the pitch. We fought hard against the rival and I'm proud of my team. Turkey were lucky. To be honest it's hard to analyze the match because I'm shocked. Hard to say something," Polish libero Maria Stenzel was quoted as saying by Polsat TV.
Turkey will face Germany in the final on Sunday, with the winner qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
