Brno / Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, June 28, 2017 –
Brazil and
Russia are the first two teams that secured their spots in the semifinal matches of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship.
In Wednesday’s games they claimed their second Pool F victories and will play against each other for the top of the standings on Thursday. Pablo Natan Ventura was Brazil’s hero in the South American clash with Argentina, coming in as a substation to become the best scorer for his team. Poland also have two wins in Pool E so far and are very close to the semis, but will have to wait for the last leg on Thursday to finally book their ticket.
Pool E
A tremendous block party between
Iran and
China ended up in a tie-breaker in favour of Iran. After that Poland shut out
Cuba in a high-level match to top the current pool standings. The Poles are closest to qualifying for the semifinals, but all four teams in this pool are still in contention before the last leg on Thursday.
Captain
Rasoul Aghchehli was Iran’s hero again as the team snatched a 3-2 (25-17, 23-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-20) victory over China despite the phenomenal blocking performance (30 stuffs!) of the opponents. Iran’s
Aliasghar Mojarad himself scored nine kill blocks, while Rasoul became the overall best scorer of the match with 24 points.
Setter
Lukasz Kozub nicely spread out Poland’s attacking options on the way to the team’s fifth consecutive victory at the World Championship. After 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-20) against Cuba, the Poles are now very close to making the semifinals.
Pool F
Scoring their second victories in the pool, Brazil and Russia are now unreachable in the top two ranking positions for the other two teams in the pool, Argentina and
Canada, which will face each other in search for a first win on Thursday.
Pablo Natan Ventura came in as a substitution for Brazil in the course of the second set against South American archrivals Argentina to make the biggest contribution to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) victory. With 13 points, Ventura was the best scorer for Brazil, topped only by Argentina’s
Geronimo Elgueta, who also came in as a sub, but during the first set, before hammering out 16 points.
Ivan Piskarev was the man of the match, in which Russia mastered a 3-1 (28-26, 25-27, 25-21, 25-13) victory over Canada to claim their semifinal spot. Piskarev topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 20 points.
Pool G
USA achieved their first win at the World Championship – a five-set victory over the home team of the
Czech Republic, to stay in contention for a spot in the ninth-place semifinals. This result also pushed
Italy into these semis, since earlier in the day, against
Egypt, they had mastered their second straight-setter in this pool. Americans and Egyptians will face each other on Thursday to battle for the other spot, while the best classification that the Czechs can now hope for is the 13th place.
Yuri Romano did not start for Italy in the match against Egypt. He came in as a sub, but still managed to become the game’s top scorer, contributing 14 points to his team’s 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-17) victory.
With a great blocking performance by
Scott Stadick (6 stuffs), USA not only won their first sets at the tournament, but also their first victory – 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 21-25, 25-18, 15-7) against hosts Czech Republic.
Pool H
Turkey achieved their second victory in Pool H and are now within reach of the ninth-place semifinal spots. All four teams still have a shot at these spots, yet none has booked them.
With captain
Abdullah Cam leading the way with 18 points, Turkey crushed
Morocco on all counts to hammer out a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-18) victory.
Top Scorer by Day
23 - Kento Miyaura of Japan v China on June 23
28 - Rasoul Aghchehli of Iran v Ukraine on June 24
26 - Rasoul Aghchehli of Iran v Argentina on June 25
24 - Dmitry Yakovlev of Russia v Argentina on June 27
24 - Bartosz Kwolek of Poland v China on June 27
24 - Rasoul Aghchehli of Iran v China on June 28
Top Scoring Performances
28 - Rasoul Aghchehli of Iran v Ukraine on June 24
27 - Tymofii Poluian of Ukraine v Iran on June 24
26 - Rasoul Aghchehli of Iran v Argentina on June 25
25 - Jan Martinez Franchi of Argentina v Iran on June 25
24 - Rasoul Aghchehli of Iran v China on June 28
24 - Dmitry Yakovlev of Russia v Argentina on June 27
24 - Bartosz Kwolek of Poland v China on June 27
24 - Miguel David Gutierrez Suarez of Cuba v Turkey on June 25
Top Individual Serving Performances
5 - Bartosz Kwolek of Poland v China on June 27
4 - Tymofii Poluian of Ukraine v Japan on June 28
4 - Shayan Shahsavand of Iran v Cuba on June 27
4 - Matias Giraudo of Argentina v Iran on June 25
4 - Donovan Dzavoronok of Czech Republic v Morocco on June 25
4 - Oleh Plotnytskyi of Ukraine v Iran on June 24
4 - Kristian Cervinka of Czech Republic v Canada on June 23
4 - Miguel Angel Lopez Castro of Cuba v Russia on June 23
Top Team Serving Performances
10 - Ukraine v Japan on June 28
10 - Poland v China on June 27
10 - Czech Republic v Canada on June 23
9 - Czech Republic v Morocco on June 25
9 - Japan v Egypt on June 24
8 - Iran v China on June 28
8 - Brazil v China on June 24
Top Individual Blocking Performances
9 - Aliasghar Mojarad of Iran v China on June 28
7 - Liying Zhou of China v Iran on June 28
7 - Yuantai Yu of China v Iran on June 28
7 - Miguel David Gutierrez Suarez of Cuba v Turkey on June 25
7 - Lucas Adriano Araujo Barreto of Brazil v Japan on June 25
6 - Scott Stadick of USA v Czech Republic on June 28
6 - Mohamed Aly of Egypt v Japan on June 24
6 - Fynnian Lionel Mccarthy of Canada v Czech Republic on June 23
Top Team Blocking Performances
30 - China v Iran on June 28
18 - Egypt v Japan on June 24
17 - Cuba v Iran on June 27
16 - Iran v China on June 28
14 - Russia v Argentina on June 27
14 - China v Egypt on June 25
14 - Argentina v Iran on June 25
14 - Canada v Czech Republic on June 23
Highest Scoring Sets
32-30 - Argentina v Italy on June 24
32-30 - Russia v Cuba on June 23
31-29 - Poland v Canada on June 25
30-28 - Turkey v USA on June 23
27-29 - Russia v Argentina on June 27
29-27 - Poland v Czech Republic on June 24
Highest Scoring Matches
211 - Iran v Ukraine 3-2 (25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 20-25, 15-13) on June 24
210 - Iran v China 3-2 (25-17, 23-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-10) on June 28
209 - Czech Republic v USA 2-3 (23-25, 26-24, 25-21, 18-25, 7-15) on June 28
209 - Argentina v Iran 2-3 (21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 12-15) on June 25
208 - Turkey v Cuba 2-3 (21-25, 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 7-15) on June 25
203 - Czech Republic v Canada 2-3 (22-25, 25-13, 25-23, 18-25, 12-15) on June 23
200 - Cuba v Iran 3-2 (25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 13:25, 15-8) on June 27
196 - Italy v Ukraine 3-2 (25-22, 15-25, 23-25, 25-13, 15-8) on June 25