Efe Mandiraci fires five aces towards the shocking win
Efe Mandiraci on the serve in Turkiye’s win over Japan at the Men’s Volleyball World Championship
Turkiye hammered out a shocking shutout of Japan in their opening game at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in the Philippines. The Pool G fixture was held on Quezon City on Saturday.
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Ranked number 16 in the world, Turkiye produced a huge 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-19) upset of the number five team in the FIVB World Ranking. It was Turkiye’s first win over Japan since 2016.
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The European side outperformed their mighty Asian rivals on all scoring counts – 7-1 in aces, 8-6 in kill blocks, 37-33 in spike kills and 21-23 in unforced errors. Outside hitter Efe Mandiraci authored five of Turkiye’s seven aces and, with one of those, he brought his squad to match point in set three. He also put up two kill blocks towards a match-high 17 points. Star opposite Adis Lagumdzija added 15 points, including the match winner.
He put away three kill blocks and an ace.
“It’s amazing! This looks like a Japanese hall, because they have so many fans. Everybody was against us, so to win 3-0 against this amazing team is a really good accomplishment for us and, let’s say, a little reward for the beginning of the World Championship,” Adis Lagumdzija told VBTV. “We are a physical team and when we receive and we serve as well as we received and served today, there is no team that we cannot beat. We showed that today. Our goal is to finish first in the group, which would be a huge step for us, because we don’t want to go against probably Poland in the eighthfinals. We are going to enjoy tonight, but tomorrow we already have the next game to prepare for.”
Star opposite Kento Miyaura led Japan with 13 points, including one ace and one kill block. Outside hitter and captain Yuki Ishikawa added another 10 points, all in swings.
Next in Pool G, Turkiye will take on Libya and Japan will face Canada on Monday, September 15.
2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: full schedule and results
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