Day 6: Top Four teams of FIVB Men’s U21 WCH are ready for semifinals

Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico, September 17, 2015 - The best four teams of the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship are ready as Argentina, Russia, China and Brazil claimed their tickets to semifinals once the second pools round finished at the High Performance Centre on Thursday.

Argentina 3-0 Slovenia
Argentina closed with a perfect march after winning all their matches in three sets. On Thursday they defeated Slovenia 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 29-27) and after clinching a berth in the Final Four, are waiting for their rival at the semifinals.

Nicolas Lazo and Joaquin Gallego guided the South American team to the victory with 13 and 12 points respectively, while Stern Toncek topped for Slovenia with 16 points.

Russia 3-0 Italy
The Russian team won 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-16) against Italy, that fought for the final ticket available. The Italians were so close in the second set when they even had the chance to convert the match points in a couple of times.

But Russia overcame by grabbing points from their errors and served for five aces, as well as they controlled the net with 14 blocks. Dmitry Volkov finished with 14 points for Russia, while Denis Bogdan scored 8.  Italy’s Andrea Argenta topped with 13 and Alberto Polo scored 11.

Brazil 3-2 Turkey
Brazil had a masterly comeback against Turkey in order to aspire to the Top Four at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship. The team coached by Leonardo Carvalho won in five sets (25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 20-25 and 15-9) with 24 points scored by Leonardo Ferreira, while Caio Oliveira finished with 17.

Douglas Souza scored 15 and Robert Araujo tallied 8 units, also for Brazil. On the other side Cansin Ogbai Enaboifo topped Turkey with 26 points and Yasin Aydin finished with 11.

China 3-0 Canada
China defeated Canada in straight sets to close with a 2-1 record in Pool F. The Chinese team coached by Genyin Ju won by scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25- 21. Zhejia Zhang topped with 13 points and he was followed by Runtao Xia with 10.

For Canada, their captain, Ryan Nickifor scored 11 points while Brandon Koppers tallied 10.  China showed a very solid attack with a 40-29 difference, and also prevailed in blocking with a 6-3 advantage with a good work by their captain Yaochen Yu.

USA 3-1 Japan
The United States claimed their third victory at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship after beating Japan in four sets. The American team coached by Dan friend  won by scores of 25-23, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23 with 17 points by Andrew Benesh.

Christopher Nugent also contributed with 14 points, while their captain, John Hatch scored 12 units. Jeffrey Jendryk Li also registered double digits, as he finished with 11 points. On the Japanese side of the net, Ataru Kumakura commanded the actions with 14 points, while Taishi Onodera, Kenta Takanashi and Tsubasa Hisahara scored 13 apiece.


Cuba 3-1 Egypt
Cuba finally got a victory at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship after beating Egypt in four sets. Scores were 25-18, 25-21, 22-25 and 25-21 in a match that lasted 1 hour and 44 minutes in Pool H.

Osmany Uriarte commanded the cuban offense with 24 points, while Abrahan Alfonso Gavilan scored 19. Luis Sosa also contributed with a total of 14 tallies for the Caribbean squad that finished with 58 spiking total points.

Egypt that still look forward to get a win, had their best weapon in Ahmed Saad, who was even the top scorer of the whole match by totalizing 22 points,

Poland 3-1 France
Mexicali, Mexico, September 17 2015.- In a match full of emotions in pool H, Poland won 25-16, 25-17, 28-30 and 25-19 against France at the State Auditorium.

Aleksander Sliwka and Rafal Szymura commanded the Polish attack after recording 19 points apiece. Bartlomiej Lemanski contributed with the blocking game with five succesful points for Poland.  

On the French side Timothée Carle figured with 20 points, 18 of in spikes and two aces, while Jean Patry contributed with 10 points after rising in front of the net.

Iran 3-0 Mexico
Iran defeated Mexico in straight sets 25-19, 25-14, 25-16 in the last match celebrated at the State Auditorium in Mexicali.  Iranian service was lethal against the host team.

Javad Karimisouchelmaei aced two of the five times when Iran had the ball in possesion.

Allah Verdian Sahand was the top scorer for the Asian representative after recording 12 points, while Taghi Zadeh Rahman scored 9 and captain Valaei Akbar scored 8 points.

Mexican captain Enrique Ugalde was the best scorer for the host team as he recorded 7 points. Alexis Garay and Luis Gerardo Bojorquez finished with 6 apiece.