Day 4: A Mexican celebration with international flavor

Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico, September 15, 2015 - The second Pool Phase began on Tuesday at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship. It was a very special night because of the celebration of the Mexican Independence Day.

In Mexicali, there was a patriotic atmosphere and flavor on and off the court at the Sports City State Auditorium.

In Tijuana, the celebrations were for a two super powers and traditional volleyball nations like Russia and China once they got on the court of the High Performance Centre, where also a South American classic battle took part between Argentina and Brazil.

Russia 3-0 China
Russia defeated China in straight sets (25-12, 25-19. 25-22) and are still udefeated with a solid performance, after winning all their matches in three.

The Russian team coached by Nikhail Nikoalev closed with a solid offense with 13 points by Dmitry Volkov, 12 by Pavel Pankov and 11 by Denis Bogdan.China had Zhejia Zhang as their best scorer after finishing with 12 units and Libin Liu was second best with 7.

Argentina 3-0 Brazil
Argentina defeated their archi- rival Brazil in three sets by scores of  29-27, 25-18 and 25-19 in Pool E in one hour and 24 minutes of game. Bruno Lima finished with 13 points for Argentina, while Gaston Fernandez and Nicolas Lazo concluded with 9 apiece. Lima also registered 2 aces.

Leonardo Ferreira do Nascimento and Lucas Madaloz finished with 9 for the Brazilian team. Argentina were also dominant in the blocking game with a 10-1 advantage, despite surrendering 27 points by error. Brazil gave up 29 units.

Italy 3-1 Canada
Italy defeated Canada in four sets 39-37, 19-25, 19-25, 19-25 in Pool F at the High Performance Centre in Tijuana in a two hours and five minutes match.

Sebastiano Milan guided the Italian team to the victory with 17 points, while Giacomo Rafaelli and Alberto Polo closed on with 13 apiece and captain Tiziano Mazzone recorded 10 units. For Canada, Brandon Koppers scored 22 points, while captain Ryan Nickifor scored 19.

Turkey 3-2 Slovenia
Turkey came back from a 0-2 deficit and won in five sets against the surprising Slovenia 20-25, 20-25, 26-24, 26-24, 16-14 in Pool E.

Yasin Aydin was the best spiker for the Turkis team, with a total of 23 points for Turkey, while Vahit Emre Savas scored 12 points, follwed by Ozman Durmaz, who tallied 9.

For the Slovenian team, Toncek Stern was the top scorer with 20 units, while Jan Kozamernik finished with 17.

France 3-0 Egypt
France needed 3 sets to win against Egypt by scores of  25-15, 25-19 and 25-22 in pool H, of the second round at the FIVB Volleyball Men´s U21 World Championship.

At the state Auditorium, French player Stephen Boyer stood up with great attacks, with 13 points as they clinched the victory, Jean Patry finished with 12 and as well as Nohoraii Paofai who even controlled the net 5 with amazing blocks.

Poland 3-2 Cuba
Poland defeated Cuba in five sets when actions began in the qualification round for places 9 -16 at the Mexicali State Auditorium in Pool H. The Polish team came back and recovered from a 1-2 temporary defeat and won by scores of 25-20, 30-32, 16-25, 25-20 and 15-12.

Ozmany Santiago Uriarte closed as the match’s top scorer with 26 points for Cuba, followed by Abrahan Alfonso Gavilan with 21 tallies. For Poland Bartlomiej Lemanski and Rafal Szymura closed as best players with 16 points apiece. Aleksander Sliwka scored 13 and Bartlomiej Lipinski registered 12.

USA 3-2 Iran
In a very tight match, USA took down Iran in five sets adn grabbed thir first win  by scores of 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 24-26 and 16-14 at the Mexicali State Auditorium in Pool G.

Andrew Nemesh finished as leader of the American offense by scoring 20 points, 17 of them were spikes, while his teammate George Perinar scored 14 points.

Captain John Hatch finished with 12 points also for the United States. Amin Esmaeilnezahad finished as Iran best attacker by scoring 17 points and Mohammadamin Heidary scored 14.

Japan 3-0 Mexico
In the last match played in Mexicali, Japan won against hosts Mexico 25-20, 25-16, 25 15 as part of Pool G.

Ataru Kumakura scored 21 points for Japan while Taishi Onodera scored 9 points as well as Issei Otake. For Mexico Luis Gerardo Bojorquez was the best scorer with 9 points.

Both teams were tied in blocking points with six apiece, and Japan prevailed in services with 7 collective services against only one by Mexico.