Russia overcomes hosts Japan in second match of 2012 FIVB World League – Volleyball news
The men’s national volleyball team of Russia maintained its supremacy on the court and downed the hosts Japan in a five-set thriller on Saturday.
Russian hotshots posted 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 25-16, 19-25, 15-12) win over Japan and moved to 2-0 in Pool A of the 2012 FIVB World League. A crowd of more than 2,000 people watched the match at the Hamamatsu Arena in Japan.
Russia’s scoring machine Pavel Moroz made an incredible effort in the match. He attempted 72 attacks and contributed match-high 24 points. He played at the position of opposite and added a total of 18 blocks, which save many crucial points. Japan’s Yusuke
Ishijima emerged as the second best-scorer of the match with 17 points. Elsewhere, Tatsuya Fukuzawa and Yoshihiko of Japan added 13 and 11 points respectively.
Equipped with enormous support of local fans, Japan made a good start to the match in first set. Shigeru and Yusuke served for Japan but made some early errors. However, the attackers did well and put the team in lead. Russia struggled to catch up with hosts
but could not do. Japan claimed the first set with five points (25-20) and went delight the home fans.
Japanese team carried the momentum in second set and picked 3-point lead at 9-6. However, Russia followed a new strategy and managed to overcome the opponent. The score tied at 15-all, which created a hope for Russia to recover the deficit of previous set.
The ambitioned Russians continued at same pace and hit the equaliser by winning second set with narrow margin of two points, 25-23.
Once Russia got up, Japan dragged under pressure and suffered frequent setbacks. Russia led the scores in third set and scored on easy attempts. Russian spikers and blockers seemed to have their full form back and dominated the hosts. The visiting Russian
squad defeated Japan in third set (25-16) and improved to 2-1.
It was a ‘do or die’ situation for Japan in fourth set. The home squad came up with back-row attack and stopped the Russians to take an early win. Japan levelled the game score by winning fourth set but failed to prove its endeavours in the final set. Russian
performed better in the tie-breaking fifth set and marched away with victory.
Russian mentor Sergio Busato shared his thoughts after the match. He stated, “For our team today was a hard match. Traditionally Japanese volleyball is good digging, very skilled with good tactics. Today Japan’s team staff worked very well because all our
mistakes were the product of good tactics from Japan. So I congratulate them for this.”
He further added that his team was tired due to the intense fight with Serbs in the opening match. He admitted that his players were little down but still managed to steal the show.
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