I suppose the moving van can wait a while longer. Let's get recapped on the third weekend of World League.
It really wasn't possible to cover both the The Hague FIVB grand slam and the World League, so I didn't write up any of this past week's matches. A lot of them were concurrent to the action going on in the Netherlands, and I have to sleep some time (sorry to say), so I missed out on the others as well. I imagine the same will be true this week with the tour stop in Rome, but I'll do my best to write up some of this week's matches.
Anyway, let's get to it. There were two fixtures this week in Group A, with the Brazilians making the relatively short trip to Argentina, and the Americans playing host to France. On night one in Mendoza, Argentina, the tournament's probable favourites dominated their continental rivals, to the tune of (25-20, 25-21, 25-15). Just like last week, Leandro got the most sets, but he sort of struggled, going just 8/5/20 for an attack percentage of only .150. Ricardo Lucarelli did him a bit better at 10/1/19 (.473 — not bad), but the Man of the Match on the attack line was Eder. He was errorless in 13 swings and was dug only once, for a .923 attack efficiency. That's a nice day at the office. Federico Pereyra led the way for the Argentinians, but had only 7 kills on a .200 efficiency. The Brazilians also exploited big advantages in blocking (6 to 3 in total blocks) and serving (6 to 1 in aces, forced 23 'poor receptions' to just 13 on their side).
Night two was awfully similar, with a final linescore of (25-21, 27-25, 25-13) favouring the Brazilians. Lipe was the focal point of the Brazilian offence going 12/2/20 fo an even .500. On the Argentinian side, Bruno Romanutti matched his output but not his efficiency, coming 12/4/25 to finish on a .320 attack percentage. Good, not great. The Brazilians really put on a block party in this match, notching 10 team blocks (not bad at all for 3 sets) to 4 for the Argentinians. Serving was a little more even in terms of aces (Brazil 2 to just 1 for Argentina), but non-scoring serves again went the way of the Brazilians, with 26 poor receptions on the Argentinian side to 16 for Brazil. Brazil coach Bruno Rezende credited his team for closing out the tight second set and ensuring that no such heroics would be needed in the third.
And so, to the shock of absolutely no one, Brazil are well in control in Group A. They're already the only unbeaten team remaining. They don't play this weekend, and will return to action next weekend hosting France. Argentina will travel to Bulgaria this coming week.
The Americans had a good weekend against France. The first night was a (25-15, 29-27, 25-16) clean sweep. Whatever problems Matt Anderson may have had last week against Argentina, health or otherwise, were quite behind him. He and Carson Clark were both nearly flawless, hitting sky-high percentages at 17/1/26 and 14/1/27 respectively. That easily out-matched anything the French put up, as Marien Moureau led the way for them with just 8 kills. After a sterling first weekend against Argentina, Paul Lotman came back to Earth a little, hitting just 7/6/18. The Americans exploited a huge advantage at the net, with Max Holt putting up more blocks individually (6 of the team's 10) than the entire French team did (3). Kawika Shoji set the whole match — after the two had split the duties against Argentina just about 50/50, Brian Thornton didn't play a single point.
Night two was different. The Americans had to come back from down 2 sets to 1, but did just that, with the final of (22-25, 25-22, 24-26, 30-28, 15-9). Again, Shoji set the whole match. Anderson, Lotman, and France's Earvin Ngapeth tied to lead all scorers with 18 kills. Middle blocker David Smith put up 14 to perhaps prove the difference in this tight match. The French team notably stepped up their blocking while the Americans weren't nearly so prodigious in this match — both teams put up 10. Ngapeth and Gérald Hardy-Dessources each had 3 to lead the French, Smith and Anderson likewise 3 each to lead the Americans. USA head coach John Speraw had nice things to say for the French team after the match. Of course that's easy to do when you're walking away with the W.
The Americans sit in second place in Group A, which if it holds up would be enough for them to make it to the finals in Argentina. It's tough to see that happening, though. They got to start World League season at home against the two weakest teams in the group. They're off this week, and next week they finish their slate of homestands with two matches against Bulgaria. But after that comes the real sting in the tail, as the Americans will have to face Poland and Brazil on the road. They may not win any of those matches. France host Poland this weekend.
Bulgaria and Poland were not in action this week.
Group B has shaped up to be a two-horse town, the way everyone thought it would be. Russia proved they're much deeper than just Muserskiy and Mikhaylov, despite how much I like to gush about those two. Neither were active this week (it remains to be seen whether Mikhaylov will play the tournament at all), and yet Russia weren't really challenged on night one, getting a (29-27, 25-14, 25-20) sweep. Nikolay Pavlov and Alexey Spiridonov led the scoring for the Russians, each with 11 kills. The Serbs were without their top player Nikola Kovacevic, as he was out nursing an injury. Aleksandar Atanasijevic led all scorers with 13 kills, but the Serbs weren't nearly so efficient as the Russians, committing 17 attack errors to only 8 for Russia. In three sets, that's a big difference. Russia were also better in blocking, 9 to 6, but held a tremendous lead in serving, notching 13 aces. As is usually the case, there just weren't any holes in the Russian game.
Kovacevic came back to play night two, and the Serbs were much more competitive, but still lost to Russia (25-23, 24-26, 22-25, 25-18, 15-8). Pavlov led all scorers with 20 kills at the head of a pretty balanced Russian attack — two other players reached double digits, a third had 9 kills, and five others were on the scoreboard. Kovacevic battled, playing all five sets, but hit only 12/7/28, for a .179 efficiency. After handling the Cubans with ease a week ago, Serbia simply ran into a better team this weekend.
Up this week is one of the biggest two-fers of the tournament, as Russia host fellow big favourites Italy. Both are 4-0 with one five-set win in the mix, so they're equal best in Group B right now with 11 points (Italy currently hold the tiebreaker, but the equation will definitely change after they face each other). Serbia will travel to Iran for two, and they should do well in those matches.
And the Italians were in action this week, against Cuba. They posted two very easy wins, (25-20, 25-17, 25-23) the first night and (25-23, 25-18, 25-19) the second. Two nearly identical linescores (same total points both nights) had similar performances by the two teams. Italy were a little bit more efficient on night one, notching more kills at a higher percentage, and also more blocks and more digs. Ivan Zaytsev was top of the scoresheet both nights, with 12 kills on night one and an equal-best 9 with Simone Parodi on night two. Zaytsev also scored a very impressive 6 service aces in the first match, following it up with 2 the next night. For a Cuban team suddenly looking for a scoring leader after the expulsion of Wilfredo Leon, Isbel Mesa and Yordan Bisset were best on the respective two nights, but only marginally so. Everyone got about the same number of sets. A varied offence can be good, it can be very difficult to defend against, but it's also really helpful to have a bomber or two you know you can lean on. Cuba are without that weapon in their arsenal in this tourney.
This week, in addition to the aforementioned Russia/Italy fixture, Cuba will travel to Germany, as all six Group B teams are in action next week.
Group C had an interesting week. After I wrote up an excellent match in week 2 between Korea and Finland, I thought maybe those teams could go on to pose headaches for later opponents. That didn't turn out to be the case. Korea travelled to Canada for a double-shot, and despite Gavin Schmitt still being out of the Canadian lineup, the Canadians won both pretty handily. Night one was an absolute laugher, the Canadians steamrolling their Korean foes (25-19, 25-10, 25-18). Canada committed only 4 attacking errors in the match, hitting 38/4/61 as a team for a .557 attack efficiency – schweet! They also enjoyed a pronounced mismatch at the net, getting 15 team blocks to just 2 for the Koreans. Team captain Fred Winters led the way with 6. Jeon Kwang-in had a good match for the Koreans, notching 16 kills, but nobody else really even showed up.
The second night was tighter, but, as mentioned, it still went to Canada, (25-23, 25-20, 25-20). The Canadians again had a pretty ridiculous team efficiency, going 44/5/75 for .520. Gord Perrin led the way with 15 kills, and Schmitt's direct replacement Dallas Soonias turned in a solid 13. I'm pleased to note that Dustin Schneider did just about all the setting both nights (Josh Howatson played briefly on night two). The team are simply better with Schneider at the helm. Jeon had another nice match for Korea on night two, coming up with 15 kills to leave his mark as the best overall scorer of the weekend. Shin Yung-suk gave him a little backup with 11, but with the Canadians again enjoying a marked advantage in blocking (8 to 2), this wasn't enough.
Both sides noted that the Koreans had stepped up their game for night two, but it made little difference in the end. Canada are now tops in Group C but just like their neighbours to the south, they have the harder end of their schedule coming up at the end of it. Road trips to Finland and Japan await.
And speaking of Finland and Japan, theirs was the final 2-match fixture of this past weekend. I honestly didn't think much of the Japan team, being thrown in to the tournament as they were, and after Finland's fabulous five-set win over Korea last week, I figured they'd pose a big challenge to Japan. And that's exactly what did not end up happening, as Japan won in four sets both nights. Gary Sato enjoyed his first win as head coach of the Japanese on night one with their (25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 25-18) triumph.Tatsuya Fuzukawa led the way with 17 kills, but Daisuke Yako and Yu Koshikawa weren't far behind with 13, and all had good efficiencies. Antti Siltala and Mikko Oivanen each had 13 to lead the Finns, who weren't as efficient as their opponents. More errors, and slightly lower output in blocks and aces as well. It wasn't a tremendous advantage for the Japanese, but it was enough.
The second night was a little tighter on the scoreboard, Japan winning (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22). Fukuzawa was again match-high among scorers, with 22 kills on a .375 efficiency. Koshikawa was again second-best putting up 15. Urpo Sivula led a more varied Finnish attack that seemed to be working at first until the Japanese adjusted to it. Notably, the Finns lost despite getting 13 scoring blocks, Mikko's brother Matti Oivanen topping the ledger there with 4. What this means is Japan did an excellent job in this match avoiding unforced errors — as long as you keep the ball in bounds, you're not giving away points.
None of these four teams will play this weekend. The only Group C fixture is Portugal at the Netherlands.
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