At the risk of monstrously long posts, I'm going to cover the World League championship round a day at a time rather than a match at a time. There's two matches each day, and they're played back-to-back, so it seems sensible to cover them all together.
We start off with a big-time Olympic rematch — of sorts. It's the same two nations who squared off for Olympic gold nearly a year ago, but neither side return a great deal of players from their Olympic squads. Just 5 players return for Russia, 4 for Brazil. One of the Brazilians is out of action for medical reasons rather than moving on from the team altogether, that being pin hitter Murilo Endres. While Brazil have been, to put it mildly, okay anyway, missing him as a passing and scoring option has been a blow for the world's #1 team. Russia have not had much from their two big stars at the Olympics, the M-and-M boys Dmitriy Muserskiy and Maxim Mikhaylov. Muserskiy started the first two World League matches for Russia, but not since, and Mikhaylov asked for (and was granted) time off before the tournament began. Both were on hand in Mar del Plata, though, and Muserskiy was part of Russia's starting lineup.
The big man Muserskiy made his presence felt in the early going. He lined up at opposite, but of course he's still a huge blocker (literally and figuratively). An overpass by Ricardo Lucarelli went straight into the big man's hands for a block and an early 2-0 lead. The Brazilians quickly got the service point back on 2-all with a kill by Leandro Vissotto. The teams traded sideouts for a little while, serving aggressively and with many service errors. 5-4 on Russia's serve was the first rally of any substantial length in the match, eventually going to the Brazilians to keep the sideout string going. Russia took the next service point on 7-6 as Dante Amaral hit into the top of the tape (and not Muserskiy's block) resulting in a four-hits call. 8-6 meant it was time for the first technical timeout.
Muserskiy got on the board on the first rally after the technical, with a quick hitter from the middle. At 9-6, Brazil sided out with a double block against Nikolay Pavlov, Vissotto and Eder Carbonera getting it done. Lucarelli pulled back a service point with an ace on 9-7, making it a one-point set again. The Russians then rattled off three on the bump, back-to-back unforced errors by Dante prompting Brazil head coach Bernardinho to call time, down 12-8. Cameras caught his words with the team. I don't speak Portuguese, so I don't know what he said, but the passion was undeniable.
The run for Russia's Pavlov continued with a service ace, before Amaral finally gained the boys in yellow a sideout. On serve at 13-9, Lucas Saatkamp (who is no longer known as Lucao? His shirt just said Lucas) pulled one back with a middle block. The Brazilians had a chance to pull another back on the next rally, but their setter Bruno Rezende overpassed, allowing an easy kill for Muserskiy. Then Evgeny Sivozhelez found success with a short serve for an ace, making it 15-10. Musersiky sided out at 16-11 to bring us to the second technical timeout.
A service ace for Muserskiy, more of a flub by the receivers, made it 17-11 right after the technical. Lucas sided out from the middle on the next rally, but Russia's tremendous front-line block remained stifling. A brick wall against Lucarelli made it 19-12, and Bernardinho called his second and final timeout. As the teams came back from the timeout, the up referee excoriated the two team captains for too much trash-talking going on through the net, and that any further instances would earn a red card. He gave each side a yellow card (I'm not sure if it's assessed to the captain specifically or just to the team) and play resumed.
The Brazilians took one back on Lucas' serve, but it didn't take long for the Russians to get the sideout, Nikolay Apalikov getting the Russians to 20 at 20-14. At 22-16, Russia libero Alexey Verbov came up with a very good dig from a heater at an odd angle by Vissotto, leading to a roll shot kill for Sivozhelez, whose block on the next rally made it set point on 24-16. Sivozhelez also put away set point on 25-17 with a left-side kill off the block and out.
Russia started out with a kill on serve, off the hand of top scorer Pavlov. The next rally ended with a fault whistled on the Russians, something I don't think happened in set 1 (to either team). A double block from Lucas and Bruno got the Brazilians the service point back on 2-all, and so Brazil served with the 1-point lead. Makarov, Muserskiy, and Alexey Spiridonov put up an impressive triple block against Dante, which Spiridonov followed with a poster-ising kill against Bruno off the chest and out. He postured a little after getting the kill, which considering the earlier yellow cards, probably wasn't the best thing to be doing. Also, the advantage he attained was pretty short-lived, as Lucarelli's kill put Brazil back on top yet again. The Brazilians were noticeably serving less aggressively in this set, trying simply to get the ball in bounds. Russia did not serve any less aggressively than in the 1st, and Muserskiy showed both sides of the coin heading to the service line on 5-all — ace then error. At 6-all, Bruno came up with an excellent solo block against Spiridonov. This time it was Bruno's turn to posture. Vissotto's kill on the next rally brought us to 8-6 and the technical timeout.
On the first rally after the timeout, Lucarelli found the miniscule seam in the block between Apalikov and Spiridonov for a kill, which prompted a quick timeout from the Russian side. Apalikov missed his hit on 10-7, the ball landing wide of the Brazilian libero Mario da Silva Pedreira. The recipe for a Russian sideout was if their libero Verbov was able to take a serve. He passed marvelously, such that it was kind of a wonder why the Brazilian servers kept going to him. A string of sideouts ended with a service ace for Sivozhelez to make it 14-12, and Brazil called their first timeout of the set. A kill for Vissotto brought us to the second technical timeout at 16-13.
At 17-14, Brazil (Bruno, to be specific) finally got away with serving Verbo, as the set by Sergey Makarov to the left side was not very good — too far from the net — leading to an off-balance and easily-blocked hit by Pavlov. Just that quickly, though, Apalikov gave Vissotto a receipt with a left-side block bringing the score to 18-16. The 18-16 rally was contentious, as the ball clearly hit the antenna, but it wasn't clear whether it was off the hit (Brazil's) or the block (Russia's). The line judge signalled off the hit, and replays showed his call was correct. Their lead narrowed to a single point, 18-17, Brazil called their second timeout.
A line roll from Dante on 19-18 landed wide to draw the Russians even again. Brazil effectively gave away their 4-point lead, and it was a race to see who would again lead by 2. Fortunately for the men in yellow, they got the service point back on 20-19, with Dante and Eder putting up the double block. That prompted Russia's second and final timeout.
On the first rally back from the timeout, Brazil claimed a contentious point as the ball was called down despite the libero Verbov appearing to get a pancake dig. On 22-20, Maxim Mikhaylov entered for what I'm pretty sure was his first action of World League season, as a blocking sub. It didn't really matter, as Brazil still got their sideout. They went without a setter on 23-20, as Isac Santos came in as a blocking sub for Bruno. This, too, was quickly negated, and on 23-21 Bruno came right back in to the match. That rally was a downer for the Russians, as Verbov tracked down a wayward ball off the block touch and long, only to have Spiridonov hit it into the net and bring it to set point on 24-21. Spiridonov got the sideout at 24-22, sending Muserskiy to the service line. He went for it on his jump-serve and got the ace, bringing the Russians back within a point. Muserskiy went for his serve again on 24-23, and while he didn't get an ace this time, he did effectively disrupt the Brazilian offence. The ball crossed the net a few times, and eventually Russia went to Mikhaylov from the pipe, but Lucas and Eder had the double block to end set 2 25-23 and deny the Russians any chance at a sweep.
A goofy-looking flub for the Brazilians on the second rally of the third set afforded the Russians the early 2-point advantage. Bad pass, bad set, bad hit. Bad bad bad. But otherwise, the early stretches of set 3 were just sideout after sideout. The next service point came for the Russians on 5-3, as Apalikov and Pavlov got a somewhat fortunate double block. Lucarelli's swing was high and hard and into the hands on purpose — 90% of the time those go wide, or long, but this one landed in. Apalikov's middle hit on 6-4 failed to clear the net, and then Lucarelli got the solo roof against Spiridonov, making it an even set. After Russia's sideout came another unforced error by the Brazilians, making it 8-6 at the technical timeout. Bernardinho was livid with his men on the sideline.
But then they probably placated him with their play coming back, getting a quick sideout and back-to-back aces by Lucarelli. His next serve was another dandy, not an ace but one to disrupt the offence on the other side and lead to a point for Brazil. The run extended to five in a row before Russia made a substitution to try to slow Lucarelli's roll, bringing in Sergey Grankin for Makarov. If putting Lucarelli on ice was the intention, it may well have been the result, as he missed his next serve, netting it. But the roll for the Brazil team as a whole was only slowed, not stopped. Another big block on the right-side put Brazil up 14-10, and Russia expended a charged timeout. Russia got their sideout there, as Wallace de Souza hit wide on a shot it looked like he should have easily scored with. Brazil worked hard for their sideout on 15-11, as the ball flew all over the place. Lucas ran it down off the court on the left side and wound up as the only blocker out there against Pavlov. No matter — he got the solo block. Muserskiy went back to serve on 15-12, but Lucarelli got a fine pass off to lead to Brazil's sideout, and the second technical.
It went sideout after sideout to 18-15, when another unforced error on attack by Brazil gave the Russians a pulse in this set, drawing them within 2. Another on serve and the margin was just a single point, despite the Brazilians looking in control ever since the first technical timeout. They called timeout there and got their sideout, but Ilia Zhilin's solo block against Wallace brought the set even at 19's. Wallace got another chance on the very next rally, and put the ball away this time. At 20-all, Russia made a couple of cringe-inducing mistakes, foot-faulting on serve and then Verbov made an uncharacteristic dreadful reception to all but gift-wrap an ace for Dante. The next rally was longer, but Russia still looked out-of-sorts, getting Brazil to 23-20. Russia called their second timeout there, and Grankin got the crucial sideout with a deceptive tip shot to make it 23-21. At that, the big man went to the service line — Muserskiy. He uncorked what looked like a nice one, but Brazil libero Mario made a perfect pass to the setter leading to a kill from the middle for Lucas. Lucas was also the next server, but his attempt at set point on serve went long. At 24-22, Grankin's serve also went long, putting Brazil up 2 sets to 1.
Set 4 started off with a few straight sideouts, until Zhilin took the service line. He scored back-to-back aces to establish a 6-3 lead. That prompted a timeout from Bernardinho, who seemed slightly more restrained than previously when speaking to his men. Zhilin was undeterred, though, getting his hat trick on the first serve after the timeout. His heater on 7-3 appeared that it may fly long, but Dante managed to get the sideout anyway. The technical timeout came with Russia ahead 8-4. At 9-5, a soft serve from Grankin presaged a soft hit from Pavlov after Brazil were dug, leading to the service point to make it 10-5. After six sideouts, Russia seized control with back-to-back blocks to take a 7-point lead at 15-8. Brazil turned to a sub there to slow the match down, and got their sideout, but the arena full of fans who, if partisan to either side favoured the Brazilians, fell quite quiet. Pavlov got the sideout to bring us to 16-9 and the second techinical timeout.
Bernardinho had a quick trigger finger calling his team's second timeout, calling it after a nicely vertical swing from Muserskiy put Russia ahead 17-9. At 18-10, Spiridonov came up with a very good solo block, and again postured. This time, the up ref assessed him the red card, giving an automatic point and sideout to the Brazilians. It didn't much matter, though. The Russian team quickly got the sideout right back. Brazil pulled back a point on serve with a nice block from Eder against Apalikov and then another a little later with a kill for Wallace, but the deficit was much too much to make up. Pavlov's kill ended the set on 25-19, setting us up for the race to 15.
I had a spontaneous computer crash during set 5 (thank god I'd been saving periodicially beforehand), so my description of the first few points is going to be a tad spotty. It was mostly sideout after sideout to begin with, as both sides were a little gunshy of making a mistake. Eder and Apalikov traded middle blocks, which accounted for each team burning one timeout, and the Russians edged ahead at the side change. They led 8-6, with Spiridonov continuing to talk and gesture (if a red card doesn't shut him up, what will?). The "confident" young man found the sideline to make it match point at 14-11, and, of course, he celebrated it. Okay, maybe he had a right that time, it was a big point. Brazil called their last timeout there, but they did not ice Zhilin. He got his serve in and it elicited a weak hit from the other side. Pavlov terminated the set and match, and history repeated itself.
Russia d. Brazil (25-17, 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-11)
Quite a first match for the World League finals tournament. It wasn't quite the instant classic that last year's Olympic final was, but it was a barn burner between the two best teams in world, hands down. The fact that it went a full five sets leaves the tiniest sliver of possible advancement for Canada. With the match going five, it affords Canada a "win and you're in" against Brazil, irrespective of what happens against Russia. Of course, "win and you're in" versus Brazil is a tall, tall ask indeed.
The scoring leader for the match was Pavlov, with 25 kills. This is what I mean when I use the phrase "backbone offence." Whenever I just said it was sideout after sideout, invariably that was Pavlov coming up with those. At least while he was front-row (but sometimes even while he was back-row). The next-highest attacker was Spiridonov with just 11, and he had a lot of errors as well. Wallace also had 11, to lead Brazil. The Brazilians made a little hay at the net, out-blocking Russia 17 to 13, but Russia got that advantage right back with a 6 to 2 advantage in service winners.
The stage was set for the nightcap. Click the "next" link below for the Bulgaria/Argentina report.
The evening show pitted the homestanding Argentines against Bulgaria. This was not a match I was expecting to be particularly competitive. True, Bulgaria had been pretty well the epitome of hot-and-cold during the preliminary round of World League, but the Argentines won just one of their ten matches, and entered the finals riding a nine-match losing skid. Thank goodness for that host nation exemption, eh?
They're of course still without their star scorer Facundo Conte, as he needs a while longer to recuperate from routine shoulder surgery. Bulgaria have most of their players returning from last year in London.
The match started off with a string of sideouts. 3-2 was the first rally of any great length, with Argentina taking it to continue the string. The ball wound up rebounding off Tsvetan Sokolov and off the court — and to his team's coach, who did hit the ball up, but yeah, that doesn't count. Finally, Bulgaria scored on serve at 5-4 to take the first two-point lead. Todor Skrimov came up with a nice dig from the Argentinian hit, leading to a kill off the block and out for Todor Aleksiev. It was 8-6 Bulgaria at the technical timeout, as the two teams felt each other out in the early going.
Argentina worked hard for their sideout on the first rally after the timeout. Libero Alexis Gonzalez ran well beyond the court to field a bad pass, leading to a free ball. He then dug the Bulgarian swing, which led to a kill for Rodrigo Quiroga. That sent Bruno Romanutti to the service line, and his ace evened the set at 8-all. Quiroga's jump-float on 9-all gave the home team their first lead of the night at 10-9. Another ace, for Sebastian Sole, made it 12-10. Bulgaria called timeout there. Their coach is Italian, and it is Italian that he speaks with his men. I happened to catch an "Andiamo ragazzi!" as the team went back on the court. But the Bulgarians didn't go anywhere right away, ceding another point with poor service reception before siding out. The three-point margin held to the second technical timeout at 16-13.
The set continued to trend toward the home team, getting a couple of points on fortunate bounces. That prompted Bulgaria's final timeout. The cameras caught Argentina's coach speaking to his men, and he preached tightening the defence against Tsvetan Sokolov.
Then following the first rally after the timeout, play was stopped for a few solid minutes. Commentator Paul Sunderland speculated that Argentina were going to be called for a rotation fault, but after an interminable delay….nothing really happened. After one rally, played was again halted for a good two or three minutes, and Quiroga netted his serve when play finally resumed. Sokolov led a double-block to draw Bulgaria back within 3 at 19-16, but then he too netted his serve. Georgi Bratoev came up with back-to-back blocks, the second a very nice solo, to draw Bulgaria within 20-18. Argentina called time there — as if this set hadn't already had enough stoppages in play.
Romanutti hit wide on the first rally back from the timeout, and then Federico Pereyra did likewise on 20-19 to tie the set. The flagger called Pereyra's hit in, but the up ref overruled (replays showed the overrule to be the correct call).At 20-all, Argentina called their last timeout. Bulgaria turned to a serving sub on 21-all, Dobomir Dimitrov, and he committed the cardinal sin of not getting his serve in. The serve for Pereyra on 22-21 led to an overpass, slammed home with two hands by the Argentinian middle blocker. The Bulgarian front-line protested, likely asking for him to be called for a throw, but it didn't happen. Bulgaria sided out on 23-22, but Argentina reached set point on the next rally. Nicolas Uriarte, the erstwhile first setter from earlier in the tournament (at least he was against the Americans) entered as a serving sub for Argentina on 24-22, but Bulgaria were successfully able to sideout. Aleksiev got his serve in on 24-23, and Argentina flubbed the reception, overpassing into the Bulgarians' waiting arms. They got the service point to fend off set point, and it was extras in the 1st.
On 24-all, Skrimov got the solo block against Romanutti, to afford Bulgaria their first set point. Sole staved it off with a kill from the middle. Argentina staved off further a set point on 26-25, but the Bulgarians ended the set at 28-26. My stream became a weirdly choppy string of still images at this point, so I'm not sure exactly what the circumstances were (or who scored the winner).
Set 2 began the same as set 1 did, with an even exchange of points. Bulgaria should have had a chance to take a service point and at the very least serve with the lead, on the rally at 3-all, but their libero Teodor Salporov flubbed a pretty easy chance, leading to a scored kill for the Argentinians and a sideout. He buried his head in his hands between points, but seemed to stay in the game once it was back on. At 4-all, Sokolov 'over-dug' the ball to send it back to the other side….and it landed just inches out, a wise leave by the Argentinian libero Gonzalez. At 5-all, Bulgaria got their service point, with Sokolov rejecting Pablo Bengolea. But he gave it back on 7-all, his wide hit putting Argentina ahead 8-7 at the first techinical timeout.
Errors from the Argentinian side put Bulgaria on top by a point immediately after the technical timeout. Sokolov's jump-float serve on 10-9 landed in for an ace, but then he went for a heater on 11-9 he netted it. A net fault against the Argentinians extended the Bulgarian lead to three at 13-10, and a block against the newly-inserted Ivan Castellani put the Bulgarians up 15-11 a few moments later. They got one of those points back when Svetoslav Gotsev took a fairly easy chance on a quick middle hit and still hit wide. At 15-13, Aleksiev hit long to make it just a one-point set at 15-14. Bulgaria called timeout there, despite the technical looming. Bulgaria's coach excoriated his men to stop squawking with the referee. Setter Luciano De Cecco's serve flew long on the only play between this timeout and the technical, making it 16-14 Bulgaria.
Argentina ran off four of five after the technical, the last an emphatic throw-down on a Bulgarian over pass, Quiroga scoring the kill. A hitting miscue from the Bulgarians put Argentina ahead by two at 19-17, but a bad service reception from Castellani gave Bulgaria a free ball on 19-18. Sokolov didn't let the opportunity go by the wayside, easily overwhelming Quiroga in a 1-on-1 at the net. Argentina were backed into calling time when they surrendered the lead at 21-20, and on the subsequent rally Viktor Yosifov slammed home an Argentinian overpass. At 22-21, Argentina turned to serving sub Nicolas Bruno, but his one serving chance went straight into the net. A kill for Aleksiev brought us to set point on 24-22. Argentina successfully sided out their reception set point, and it was De Cecco on the service line to try to stave one off the hard way. He served a nice heater, but Salporov easily passed it, leading to a swing from — who else? — Sokolov. The line judge called his hit wide but replays showed that it was definitely in, meaning the up referee made the right call overruling. Set 2 went to Bulgaria by 25-23.
My video feed became choppy in set 3. It would start and stop every few seconds. Didn't seem like I missed a whole lot in the early going, though, as the technical timeout came with Bulgaria up a scant 8-7 amid an even exchange of points. Argentina took the two-point lead for the first time at 11-9 (missed how) and held that lead at the second technical timeout at 16-14, a swing from Pablo Crer up the middle getting them that last sideout before the timeout.
De Cecco rattled off a couple of aces coming back from the timeout, catching Salporov and Sokolov off guard. Bulgaria called time there, their deficit grown to four at 18-14. He nearly had a third ace after the timeout, but the ball landed just long. Big swings from Quiroga extended the Argentinian lead to five and then six at 23-17, when Bulgaria called their last timeout. There would be no sweep in the nightcap. The Argentines reached set point at 24-19 and had it gifted to them on a Bulgarian service error, 25-20 the final.
The teams traded sideouts and service errors to begin the 4th. A service ace for Castellani, targetting Skrimov, gave Argentina the first two-point lead at 6-4. That prompted a substitution, as Valentin Bratoev entered the match in his stead. Bulgaria came level at 6-all, and after a little chippiness following that rally a yellow card was assessed to the Argentine libero Gonzalez. He walked back to his position in the back row with a smirk on his face, in recognition of (if not agreement with) the formal warning. On 6-all, Quiroga hit cross-court and it was narrowly ruled in. The Bulgarian coach screamed in protest, and was slammed with a red card. Two in one night. It, of course, bears pointing out that the line judges in this match were, as they always are, from the hosting nation. I really wonder why line judges aren't required to be from neutral nations like the R1 and R2 are. Conscious 'home cooking' is only part of the story. You're unconsciously (subconsciously?) bound to see balls landing in favour of your home side.
The automatic point for the red card brought us to the technical timeout, at 8-6 Argentina. Another dodgy line call put Argentina ahead 10-7 — replays showed this was a bad call. On the 10-7 rally, a net fault called on the Bulgarians put Argentina ahead by four for the first time. Bulgaria weathered the storm, and a double-block against Pereyra drew them back within a point on 12-11. The match settled into a sideout pattern from there, but it wasn't the tentative little feeling-out sideout pattern that began at least sets 1 and 2 — the teams were hitting hard and looking angry. The second technical came with Argentina ahead 16-14.
After a sideout, Sokolov's kill, beating a diving Castellani to the floor, tied the set at 16-all. Sideout after sideout ensued again, with Bulgaria getting the next service point to go ahead 19-18 with a block by Aleksiev. De Cecco should have been in position to cover, but he was flat on his butt. That play prompted Argentina's timeout, but back-to-back points from Quiroga on their side and just as quickly it was Bulgaria calling time. Then the teams traded little 2-point mini "runs," to the slight advantage of the Argentines. They led 22-21 as all four charged timeouts in the set were expended.
The chain broke for the Argentines, as Bulgaria reached match point on 24-22. They thought they had the match sealed on a Quiroga cross-court hit right there, but it was ruled in. No matter — they sealed it on the next point anyway, on a service error.
Bulgaria d. Argentina (28-26, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23)
Bulgaria earned this win, and Argentina stepped up their game in front of the home fans, but I still feel a little soured by those dodgy line calls. Apparently there will be a replay challenge system in place beginning tomorrow, which should help. Seems like it could be taken care of completely with neutral-nation line judges. Swallow the travel cost and bring them in. Hell, bring them on the same plane as the referees, since you know those planes are bringing in impartial officials. I've on rare occasions seen the R1 and R2 be compatriots, so I don't think there'd be a problem if they were the same nationality as one or more of the lines judges.
Does this just make too much sense or something?
Anyway, it really was match one that was the more exciting one, though I of course understand why the Argentina match was held for the nightcap (you always your event that gets a higher attendance to go on last….even though the first match really should have gotten a very very strong attendance as well).
With Argentina here for no reason other than host-nation exemption and Canada in uncharted waters against some tall, tall trees (to mix metaphors), the question of the four teams to make the semifinals seems pretty self-answering. But, to make a tired point, that's why they play the matches, and it's Canada's chance to show everyone wrong tomorow. They'll go on first, with Bulgaria/Italy to follow. Should be another great day of volleyball.
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