The tournament really got going in earnest this week, as all three pools were in action. I covered three matches in detail. I wish I could do more, and that’s why I’m still hoping to bring on a second contributor (hint, hint). Maybe the Bloguin move will help with that. Anyway, let’s get down to it.
The foremost series in Pool A was surely the two-fer between Poland and Brazil. Brazil are probably the favourites for overall victory, while Poland are the defending champions. Brazil won night one fairly comfortably, (25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 25-15) the final count. Leandro led all scorers for Brazil with 14 kills, while Zbigniew Bartman was tops for the Poles with 13. 2012 World League MVP Bartosz Kurek had a solid match, coming up with 12 as well as two service aces, but the Brazilians were pretty well in control throughout, and decidedly so in the final set. Night two between these two teams was a fair bit more competitive. Poland rallied from a 2 sets to nil hole to force a decider, but came up just short in the end, falling (28-26, 25-22, 23-25, 20-25, 15-10). Leandro again led the way, with 20 kills, 3 blocks, and 3 aces. Surprisingly, Kurek sort of disappeared for Poland. Don’t know if he got banged up, or what, but he had just 4 kills and only started the first two sets. It was again Bartman who led the Poles in scoring. The results put Poland at the very bottom of the group, but with their very toughest opponent out of the way and with them still coming in to form, Poland coach Andrea Anastasi seems cautiously optimistic about their future fortunes.
I didn’t see one single rally of the France/Bulgaria series. The first night was another of those charmingly quaint volleyball oddities where the losing team scores more points, as Bulgaria came out on top (25-21, 14-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11). Kevin Tillie didn’t play, and I’m still not exactly sure he will. Tsvetan Sokolov led the scoring with 20 kills, 3 blocks, and 3 aces, and floor captain Todor Aleksiev was hot on his heels with 19 kills. France were led by a player I don’t really recall highlighting at any time. 23-year old outside hitter Julien Lyneel came up with 16 kills, 2 blocks, and 4 aces as the French squad came up just short. On night two, the Bulgarians made a conspicuous effort to serve more aggressively. It’s unclear if it really had the desired effect, as they had just 2 team aces to go along with a whopping 24 errors, but process be damned, Bulgaria won in a sweep. The final linescore was (26-24, 31-29, 25-20). The Bulgarians successfully faced down five set points in the opener before converting on their first and only attempt. Surprisingly, after his minor breakout the night before, Lyneel again came off the bench to start this match. He returned to earth a bit, coming up with only 5 kills in this match. The French were led by Earvin Ngapeth‘s 14 kills, while Sokolov’s 19 were match-high. France head coach Laurent Tillie took the positive from night two, stating that both sides played excellent volleyball for two sets and that his men simply ran out of gas in the third.
I wrote up night one between USA and Argentina, noting that American fans should still feel heartened despite the loss. I didn’t really expect the Americans would be tasting victory so soon, but they got the job done on night two against the Argentinians, winning (22-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-16). I only saw the last few points of this match, so I don’t know if the linescore tells the tale it seems to (each set successively more in the Americans’ favour than the one before makes it look like they ‘figured out’ the Argentinians), but what do you say we go with that? It seems Matt Anderson was over whatever ailed him, as his 14 kills led all scorers. Ivan Castellani had 13 to lead Argentina. USA head coach John Speraw went to the same sort of setting rotation (in terms of playing time) that he did on night one, with Brian Thornton starting the match and Kawika Shoji finishing it. Exactly whom will settle into the role is something that will continue to play out over the next couple of years, most likely (I imagine Kyle Caldwell will also get his chance, and possibly likewise Ryan Ammerman).
Next week in Pool A, the Americans host France while the two South American archrivals face off, with the Brazilians making the relatively short trip to Argentina. Poland and Bulgaria are not in action.
The first week’s action in Pool B went pretty much how I would have expected it to. It started off with Russia hosting Iran, and the Olympic champions taking a pretty comfortable (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) decision. To my modest surprise, Maxim Mikhaylov didn’t play. Apparently he’s “asked for a break.” Don’t know if that just means this weekend or the whole tournament. If the latter, I’m not sure Russia are my overall pick anymore. His big partner in crime Dmitriy Muserskiy is present, and led the team in the first match with 5 blocks, but another Dmitriy was the scoring leader, Dmitriy Ilinykh. Ilinykh had 12 kills to go along with 3 blocks. Iran were led by Shahram Mahmoudi, with 9 kills. Night two between these two teams also went to the Russians, though the Iranians made them work for it a little bit more, at a (25-23, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18) four-set final. Nikolay Pavlov led Russia with 18 kills and 3 service aces in this match. Amir Ghafour led the way for Iran with 14 kills. Notably, the Iranians out-blocked the Russians 10 to 7 in this match, with Iran’s Mohammad Mousavi the top individual blocker, notching five.
Italy also won their first match pretty easily, dispatching Germany in a (25-15, 25-23, 25-21) sweep. It was actually German Denys Kaliberda who was the top attacker in this match, coming up with 16 kills. No one else for Germany had more than 6, though. Ivan Zaytsev led Italy with 14, as their offence was a little bit more varied. Italy exploited tremendous advantages in blocking (11 to 2) and serving (aces were 4 to zero) en route to the win. The Germans nearly turned a major upset on night 2, but Italy stormed back from down 2 sets to nil to win (22-25, 19-25, 25-17, 26-24, 15-6). Zaytsev led all scorers with 25 kills, while Kaliberda was again best for Germany with 21. Essentially, each offence was as varied as the other, as the next highest scorers for Italy were floor captain Cristian Savani with 11 and Simone Parodi with 10, while Germany got 10 each from Philipp Collin and their captain Jochen Schöps. Italy still won the blocking and serving battles, but Germany had a better showing in both, with blocks going 16-9 to the Italians and serves 6-3. Both sides ran very efficient offences, with just 21 total errors for Italy and 20 for Germany. That’s absolutely fine for a five-set match.
I saw a little bit of Cuba vs Serbia. Not much. Serbia won night one (25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20) to make themselves the only Pool B road team to win this week. Aleksandar Atanasijevic was the top scorer, with 21 kills. Teammate Nikola Kovacevic followed closely with 19, and any time you can have such a strong 1-2 punch on the pins, you’re in good shape. Lazaro Fundora led a balanced Cuban attack with 12 kills, but it goes without saying (or actually, I guess it doesn’t now) that the team were severely hobbled being without Wilfredo Leon and Yoandri Diaz. Night two was almost exactly like the first. Slightly tighter sets, but the same end count, with Serbia winning (26-24, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21). Surprisingly, it was the victorious Serbs who made the only lineup change from night one to two, while the Cubans stood pat. Atanasijevic again led all scorers, this time with 20, while Cuba’s top man was Yordan Bisset, 16 to lead (again) a very balanced attack. The crowds in Havana were definitely the biggest of the tournament I saw (Brazil might have been bigger) and I have little doubt the Cuban team will pick up some wins later in the tournament against the likes of Germany and Iran. Moving on to the medal round, though, is a pretty tall ask.
Next week Russia host Serbia and Italy host Cuba. Germany and Iran are not in action.
Before falling short on night two, Canada easily defeated Portugal on the first night of their two-fer, by a count of (25-19, 25-19, 25-18). Gavin Schmitt and Valdir Sequeira were equal-best high scorers, each with 10 kills. Canada had a staggering advantage in blocking, 13 to 1, something all the more remarkable considering how strong Portugal’s block looked on night two. No doubt the loss of the towering Schmitt on night two was an important factor. Portugal’s win gives them 2 for the tournament, and that’s as many as they’ve had in their entire previous World League history.
In a somewhat similar vein, Finland preceded their epic five-set win on night two against Korea with a much easier three-set sweep on night one, final of (25-23, 25-23, 25-20). Kim Jeong-hwan, whose name I don’t recall using in my night two write-up, tied with Jeon Kwang-in to lead the Koreans in scoring with 11 kills. Mikko Oivanen‘s 14 led all scorers. Finland were at a dramatic advantage in blocking, with 14 to just 3 for the Koreans, something that wasn’t the case on night two when the Koreans played much tighter. With these wins, Finland now lead Pool C. After the great second-night match, Finland coach Tuomas Sammelvuo had high praise for the Koreans, and you could say respect had definitely been earned.
Last but not least were Netherlands and Japan, playing their double shot in Apeldoorn. The Dutch team won night one despite dropping the first set, final linescore of (18-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-17). Wytze Kooistra led the Dutch just as he did in the Canadian series, but he had Jelte Maan and Jeroen Rauwerdink hot on his heels, 19, 15, and 14 their respective kill figures. Japan were led by 14 from Tatsuya Fukuzawa. On night two, the Dutch took an even easier win, sweeping (25-20, 25-21, 25-18). Netherlands coach Edwin Benne praised his men for playing six consistent sets, which is kind of a backhanded compliment if you think about it. Maan led the Dutch in scoring with 11 kills this night, equal best overall with Yu Koshikawa across the net. The Dutch have never lost to Japan in World League play, these constituting their fifth and sixth such wins.
Next week Canada host Korea and Japan host Finland. Netherlands and Portugal have the week off.
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