FIVB U21 Championships
- June 23-July 2, 2017
- Brno, Czech Republic
- Schedule/Results
Pool E
Iran 3, China 2 (25-17, 23-25, 26-24, 20-25, 15-10)
Poland 3, Cuba 0
Poland flexed its offensive muscles in a sweep of Cuba, while Iran dodged a bullet, overcoming 30 blocks in a five-set win over China.
Iran 3, China 2
China racked up 30 blocks, but it was not enough to lift the team to a victory against Iran on Wednesday.
China tallied 10 blocks in the fourth set alone in a 25-20 win to keep the match going, and added three in the final stanza, but it was not enough to overcome Iran in a 15-10 loss.
“It was a really hard match – we know how strong China are,” Iranian captain Rasoul Aghchehli said. “They play a lot of combinations with all their 12 players.”
The Chinese won the block 30-16, but Iran led in kills (58-44) and aces (8-7) and had help from 27 Chinese miscues in the win.
Aghchehli scored 24 points, including 23 kills and an ace. Aliasghar Mojarad (17) and Tayed Einisamarein (10) followed. Mojarad put up nine blocks, while Einisamarein added three kills and three blocks.
Liying Zhou tallied 22 points to lead China, including a team-best seven blocks and 13 kills. Jingyi Wang added 17 points, with 12 kills and four blocks. Yuantai Yu (14) and Zhengyang Jiang (12) also chipped in double-digit point tallies. Yu tallied seven blocks, while Jiang managed six kills and five blocks.
“Our players played at their best level today,” Chinese coach Genyin Ju said. ”They fought and it is a pity that we lost the sets in the end.”
Poland 3, Cuba 0
Poland stayed in the running for the semifinals with a sweep of Cuba, thanks to a dominating offensive effort.
The Polish side racked up 49 kills, while allowing just 19. Cuba won the block 9-6 and made 11 less errors (26-15). Both sides served up five aces.
“Today’s win was very important for us,” Polish coach Sebastian Pawlik said. “We were much better in defense and blocking and that is why we won. We also controlled the good attack of Cuba.”
The Cubans led early in the match, but Poland grabbed the lead midway through Set 1 and never looked back.
“I am not disappointed with our performance, but Poland are the U19 world champions and they showed us why,” Cuba captain Adrian Eduardo Goide said.
Bartosz Kwolek led Poland with 20 points, including 16 kills and three aces. Tomasz Fornal (12) and Norbert Huber (11) also added double-digit scoring efforts. Fornal downed 11 kills, while Huber added nine kills and two blocks.
Miguel Angel Lopez Castro paced Cuba with 12 points, including 10 kills and two aces. Osniel Lazaro Melgarejo Hernandez and Marlon Yang Herrera added six points apiece. Herrera served up a team-best three aces.
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