Russia still undefeated in second round of FIVB Men´s Junior World Championship
The Russian side was able to continue its winning streak in the FIVB Men´s Junior World Championship by defeating the U.S. on the 7th of August in the second round of the tournament. The match between the two teams that went on for five sets and
was played at the Maracanazinho Gymnasium, Rio de Janeiro. The 3-2 win has enabled the Russians to top Pool E.
The first set of the match was lost by the Russians as the North American side was cheered on by the home crowd. However, Russia put up an intense struggle in the second set of the match but the Americans prevailed to bag it in the end. The Russian squad
was sent a much needed wake up call after losing the first two sets of the game as a result of which they played the third set with all their energy and eventually put together a win. Capitalising on the momentum generated after winning the third set, the
Russians came out strong in the fourth set as well and bagged it. The fifth set was intense but the Russians did not let go of the advantage and sealed the deal at the following final set scores: 19-25, 27-29, 25-21, 25-17 and 15-13.
The Russian coach, Sergey Shlyapnikov, expressed himself at the press conference after the match and said, “It had been tough for my players to stay focused for a whole match. Each day we play and practice in different times and has not been easy to manage
it”.
On the other hand, the American coach, John Hawks IV, gave the following statements: “I am proud of my team. They fought until they were able to. Now he will play against Argentina in the semifinal and we need to prepare and watch videos as they are a great
team.”
The Americans started the opening set of the match with a lead but the Russians did not let them extend the advantage and got the lead themselves at 11-9. The U.S got the pole position back at 17-16 and was able to stretch it till the end of the first set
at 25-19.
The Russians started the second set strong with a leading position but the Americans made sure Russia did not get too far. When the first technical time put was reached, the U.S. was leading at 16-13. The match was at a tie in the final stages but the Americans
secured it for themselves at 29-27.
The third set of the game was tied at 14-14 but the Russians got the lead at 21-15 and led all the way to a set win at 25-21. After that point, the fourth set came as an easy win at 25-17 but the fifth set took on thrilling tones and ended in a Russian win
at 15-13.
The Russian player that was able to secure the most points was Leonid Sshchadilov who tallied 24 points while the American Taylor Sander tallied 20 points for his team.
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