FIVB U21 Championships
- June 23-July 2, 2017
- Brno, Czech Republic
- Schedule/Results
Pool B
Cuba 3, United States 0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-20)
Russia 3, Turkey 0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18)
Russia secured its spot in the best eight teams of the U21 World Championship with its second win of the tournament and the top spot in Pool B.
Russia is now 2-0 and sits atop the group after Friday’s win over Cuba. The team faces the United States on Sunday, where the Americans will look to get their first win of the tournament.
Russia 2-0
Cuba 1-1
Turkey 1-1
USA 0-2
Cuba 3, USA 0
The United States managed one more kill than its NORCECA foe Cuba in Saturday’s U21 action, but also committed 20 miscues and was outserved (7-3) and outblocked (10-7) in its second straight loss of the tournament.
“The national team of USA is a good team, but we were better today,” Cuban coach Nicolas Vives Coffigny. “We served, received and attacked well. I am not satisfied with our block-defense though.”
Miguel David Gutierrez tallied eight points to lift Cuba to a 25-23 Set 1 win. The Americans led for much of Set 2, but Cuba rallied from down X to take the stanza 25-19. Osniel Lazaro Melgarejo managed nine points in the final set as Cuba wrapped up the match with a 25-20 score.
Gutierrez led all scorers with 18 points, including 15 kills and two blocks. Melgarejo and Miguel Angel Lopez Castro added 14 points apiece. Melgarejo tallied three blocks and three aces, while Castro chipped in 10 kills and three stuffs.
Kyle Ensing paced the Americans with 17 points, including 14 kills, while Brett Rosenmeier added 11 points.
“Cuba are a very good team with a lot of physical players,” USA coach Jay Hosack said. “Now we have to concentrate on tomorrow’s match. We play with Russia. For us it is a good opportunity to finish well in this pool.”
Russia 3, Turkey 0
Russia dominated Turkey in all facets of Saturday’s sweep, managing six aces, 11 blocks and 44 kills, while holding the Turkish side without an ace and to just 24 kills. The match was closer than expected due to 26 Russian miscues.
“We played a really good game and our serving helped us on the way to the victory,” Russian captain Konstantin Abaev said. “We produced fewer mistakes than yesterday.”
Anton Semyshev and Dmitry Yakovlev led the Russians with 17 and 16 points respectively. Semyshev racked up 14 kills and two aces, while Yakovelev put up five blocks to go with 10 putaways.
Yakovlev scored seven points in a 25-19 Set 1 victory. An error-riddled Set 2 for both sides ended in 25-20 win for the Russians. Semyshev and Yakovlev downed eight points apiece in the final 25-18 win.
“Russia played really well and served really hard,” Turkish captain Abdullah Cam said. “We could not receive as well as was needed and we could not play our volleyball. Russia put a lot of pressure on us.”
Adis Lagumdzija added 17 points for Turkey, tallying 12 kills and five blocks, but got little help from his team, with the next closest scorer, Batuhan Avci, adding just four points.
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