20 Turkish student athletes take a big step forward for their future through college sports
With the support of NOMOS, 19 female Turkish athletes and 1 Turkish male athlete will compete this upcoming season in intercollegiate athletics in the States.
We are proud of our student athletes who have taken a big step towards their future and will be competing in USA’s elite leagues.
İremnur Elmas – Player of the Week!
Irem Nur (IOWA WESTERN COMMUNİTY COLLEGE) led her nationally ranked 6th best team in the NJCAA D1 to two important wins, starting the new year impressively. With these two outstanding performances, Irem was awarded as Athlete of the Week for the entire Iowa CC Athletic Conference! The Reivers opened the 2021 season at home in Iowa against Ellsworth CC. Irem was the best scorer in the game with 10 kills, 7 digs, 4 aces, 2 blocks, and an extraordinary .588 hitting percentage! IWCC won the game with clear set scores of 25-9 , 25-9, 25-12. On Tuesday January 26th, Irem and her Reivers were back in action, this time in an away match against Southwestern CC, again leaving no doubt to the competition, prevailing in straight sets 25-7, 25-8, 25-8. Irem had 13 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace. 1 block, and once more hitting above a ridiculous .500! Currently, Irem ranks 3rd in the entire nation in NJCAA D1, with her amazing .545 hitting percentage. She is also 6th in aces per set, 6th in points per set, and 8th in kills per set. Tebrikler iremnur!
Yagmur Cinel, Revna Cakir and Ada Bulgur played in the first matches of the season!
Yagmur Cinel (University of Northern Iowa) opened the 2021 season at Drake with 6 kills, 1 block and 1 dig. UNI lost to their Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) rival 3-1 with set scores of 26-24, 20-25, 25-15, 25-18 but the Panthers will return to the McLeod Center on Friday when they get their rematch with in-state rival Drake at 6pm local time.
In the second match of the weekend the UNI volleyball team traveled to Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. The Mavericks of Omaha won 3-1 with set scores 25-18, 21-25, 16-25, 23-25. Yagmur Cinel recorded 7 kills and 1 dig.
The UNI volleyball team fell 3-0 to the #15 nationally-ranked Creighton on the road Sunday afternoon, with set scores of 15-25, 22-25, 17-25. Yagmur Cinel finished with 7 kills and 1 dig.
The freshman outside hitter Yagmur Cinel played 3 matches (11 sets) for 3 days in a row and did everything for her team while returning from a significant ankle injury. She made an impression on the audience with her determined and competitive character.
Ada Bulgur and Revna Cakir (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) had a great start to the season. The Vaqueros jumped out to 3-1 first set lead on kills by freshman Ada Bulgur and two kills by freshman Revna Cakir, who helped the Vaqueros go up 8-5; nevertheless, UTSA prevailed in an exciting 5-set match, beating UTRGV 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-27, 18-16). In UTRGV debuts, Cakir played 2 sets and finished with three kills on three attacks (100%) and 1 block before she got injured, while Bulgur played 5 sets and finished with eight kills and seven digs.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team dropped its second match of the day, 0-3 (23-25, 15-25, 18-25) to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Friday at Dugan Wellness Center. The Vaqueros’ (0-2) lead over the Islanders (1-0) in the Showdown standings is now 12-3. The freshman outside hitter Ada Bulgur made an impression with her serves and did not allow the opposing team to play unobstructed. Bulgur finished the game with 2 aces, 3 digs and 5 kills.
Below is the list of Turkish student athletes competing in USA’s elite volleyball leagues after participating in Nomos EVE and/or had support from Nomos in the course of their US higher education journey.
Beste Ayhan
Date of birth: 02/14/1999
Position: Middle Blocker
Height: 6-4
University: UMBC
Previous teams: Küçükyalı Yelken Sports Club, Mehmet Erdem Marmara Akademi Sports Club
Çağla Bengi
Date of birth: 02/13/2001
Position: Setter
Height: 5-9
University: Seton Hall University
Previous teams: Nilüfer Belediyespor
Ada Bulgur
Date of birth: 09/20/2002
Position: Outside hitter
Height: 5-11
University: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)
Previous teams: Bahcelievler Sports Club
Revna Cakir
Date of birth: 03/01/2001
Position: Middle Blocker
Height: 6-0
University: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)
Previous teams: Bursa Nilufer Sports Club
Yağmur Cinel
Date of birth: 04/03/2001
Position: Outside hitter
Height: 5-11
University: University of Northern Iowa
Previous teams: Seramiksan Sports Club, Arkas Sports Club, İzmir Büyükşehir Sports Club
İrem Nur ELMAS
Date of Birth: 09.05.2000
Position: OH
Height: 5.11
University: Iowa Western Community College
Previous Team: Bahçelievler Belediye Sports Club
Cansu Gunaydin
Date of birth: 05/11/2001
Position: Outside hitter
Height: 6-0
University: Rutgers University
Previous teams: Mehmet Erdem Marmara Akademi Sports Club, Galatasaray Sports Club
Bahar Kurtulus
Date of birth: 09/17/2002
Position: Right side
Height: 5-11
University: University of Cincinnati
Previous teams: TED Ankara College Sports Club
Simay Memişoğlu
Date of Birth: 11.03.2001
Position: Middle Blocker / OH
Height: 5.11
University: University of Indıana -PA
Previous Team: Kartal Anadolu Sports Club
Didar ÖZCAN
Date of Birth: 26.06.2002
Position: Middle Blocker
Height: 6-1
University: College of Southern Idaho
Previous Team: İzmir Karşıyaka Sports Club
Ece ÖZTUNA
Date of Birth: 01.10.1999
Position: Setter
Height: 6.1
University: Chicago State University
Previous Team: Kartal Anadolu Sports Club
Karya SÜVARİOĞLU
Date of Birth: 01.01.2001
Position: Setter
Height: 6.0
University: Reinhardt University
Previous Team: Besiktas Sports Club
Melisa Nur Temiz
Date of birth: 04/27/2002
Position: Outside hitter
Height: 6-1
University: West Virginia University
Previous teams: Fenerbahce Sports Club
Damla Tokman
Date of birth: 04/02/2002
Position: Middle blocker
Height: 6-2
University: Hofstra University
Previous teams: Eczacibasi Sports Club, AtlasGlobal Yesilyurt Sports Club
Doga Topcicek
Date of birth: 05/28/2001
Position: Outside hitter
Height: 5-11
University: Bradley University
Previous teams: Besiktas Sports Club
Melisa Töre
Date of birth: 05/17/2001
Position: Middle blocker
Height: 6-2
University: Middle Tennessee State University
Previous teams: Mehmet Erdem Marmara Akademi Sports Club, Besiktas Sports Club
Berra Tuğçe Tok
Date of Birth: 25.02.2002
Position: Middle Blocker
Height: 6.3
University: Minot State University
Previous Team: Beylikdüzü Sports Club
Elif Su Yavuz
Date of birth: 11/07/2001
Position: Middle blocker
Height: 6-3
University: Auburn University
Previous teams: Halkbank Sports Club, Ted College Sports Club
Hande Yetis
Date of birth: 07/03/2002
Position: Setter
Height: 5-10
University: UTEP
Previous teams: Gelisim College