Italy and France continued with their four-game winning streak on the second week of the FIVB Volleyball World League by beating Iran and Japan, respectively.
Italy scored another straight sets (27-25, 25-18, 25-22) victory against Iran on Sunday to lead in Pool A. With the two losses, Iran is now at the bottom of Pool A standings.
Both teams fought closely to the delight of the Verona crowd. Italy counted on their home fans while 1,000 Iranian fans also came to cheer for the visiting team.
Italy recovered from the pressure that the Iranian side applied late in the first frame, resulting to an extended set. The Italians’ excellent service game helped them to secure the second set after a strong start by the Iranians. Iran seized the lead before the second technical timeout but eventually slipped as Italy made some key replacements, with Jiri Kovar leading the charge. Kovar and Ivan Zaytsev’s outstanding offence in the third set positioned Italy to claim victory.
Kovar complemented Zaytsev’s scoring dexterity in the match with 11 points coming off from the attack line, two blocks and two aces. Zaytsev led Italy with 18 points.
“We have different resources, both our fundamentals and players helped guide the team’s victory,” said Italy coach Mauro Berutto. “Zaytsev was amazing today. We cannot fail in front of an audience like we had today, and I am glad we did not.”
Meanwhile, France showed control with their second 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-21) win over Japan in Montpellier to take the lead in Pool D standings.
France ruled the first and second sets as their intensity were unmatched by Japan. The Japanese side was tentative which allowed the French squad to easily swing the momentum to their side. Japan managed to bounce back in the third set but their attacks lacked intensity which allowed France to breakout in the match.
Mory Sidibé led all scorers with 18 points to extend the winning streak of France.
In Pool E, the four teams got even win-loss cards with one win and one loss each in their second week start. Korea bounced back from their first match setback in Eindhoven with a 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22) victory over hosts Netherlands. Tactical serving helped Korea’s young team to gain their first victory in this edition of the World League. Czech Republic likewise forced a draw with Portugal from their straight sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-22) triumph.
In other matches, Canada used home court advantage and defeated Finland in the tiebreaker (19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 15-11) to gain second spot in Pool C. Gavin Schmitt’s 28-point output lifted Canada to pull off a victory in the fifth set after a slow start.
Germany pulled-off a remarkable comeback after being down in the first two sets in another five-setter match (20-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16, 15-13) to draw with Argentina in Pool D and conclude the matches of the second week.
The third week of FIVB Volleyball World League 2014 continues on June 6 to 8.
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