The 3-0 victory over China by Turkey's “Sultans of the Net,” the national women’s volleyball team, on July 25 at the Tokyo Olympics lifted national spirits and gave Turks a much-awaited victory on the international sports scene after a series of disappointments in soccer, the country’s most popular sport.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the team captain, Eda Erdem Dundar, to congratulate her and the team and promised to watch their next match, against Italy, which is ranked among the best globally. The Sultans lost 3-1. All eyes are now on their next game — against the United States — scheduled to take place July 29.

Amid the jubilation, however, an all-too-familiar debate on women’s decency and clothes raised its head when arch-conservative theologian Ihsan Senocak urged the volleyballers to observe modesty in dress and behavior.

“Daughter of Islam! You are the sultan of faith, chastity, morality and modesty .. not of sports fields,” he tweeted. “You are the child of mothers who refrain from showing their nose [out of modesty]. Don’t be … the victim of popular culture. You are our hope and our prayer.”