Press release

Nagoya, Japan, November 21, 2011 – After an exciting opening day of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup Japan 2011 on Sunday, day two looks to treat fans to six more thrilling matches as the 11-match tournament continues on Monday in first round sites Nagoya and Kagoshima, Japan.

Cuba versus Iran opens the second day at Site A in Nagoya at 11.00, followed by Serbia challenging Poland at 15.00 and Japan hosting Argentina at 18.20. Kagoshima will host Site B matches of Italy versus Egypt at 11.00, Brazil against United States at 15.00 and Russia versus China at 18.20.

In the marquee match on Monday, No. 1 Brazil (1-0, 3 points) face No. 4 United States (1-0, 3 points) in a rematch of the 2008 Olympic Games gold-medal match.  While Brazil is the two-time defending FIVB World Cup champion and the top-ranked team in the world, USA won the 2008 Olympic Games title over Brazil. The teams split four matches during the 2011 FIVB World League pool play, while Brazil defeated the USA in four sets during the World League Final Round pool play. Overall, Brazil hold a 37-23 record over USA in FIVB matches.

“I think we need to come out with high intensity,” USA captain Clayton Stanley said. “Our team enjoys playing Brazil. We have a good history with this team being competitive. We can’t give up runs of points as we did today, but if we do we need to be composed. We need to serve tough, spike high, and block well.

Stanley scored 17 points to lead the U.S. over China on the opening day of the World Cup. Murilo Endres totaled 13 points in Brazil’s three-set win over Egypt on Sunday.

Pool A at Nagoya

Cuba (0-1, 0 points) versus Iran (1-0, 3 points)
Iran will look to improve to 2-0 on Monday when they meet Cuba, who will seek to pick up their first victory in the FIVB World Cup on Monday as they take on Iran. Iran’s Arash Kamalvand scored a team-high 15 points in the opening day victory over Japan. Fernando Hernandez Ramos contributed 21 points in the loss while young Cuban star Wilfredo Leon Venero was held to 11 points. Iran only other appearance in the FIVB World Cup was 30 years ago, resulting in an 11th-place finish in 1991. Cuba, the youngest team in the tournament with an average age of 22.8 years, have won the only three head-to-head matches with Iran in past FIVB competitions. Ironically, the last meeting also took place in Nagoya, a 3-1 Cuban victory during the 2009 FIVB Grand Champions Cup.

Serbia (0-1, 0 points) versus Poland (1-0, 3 points)
Poland, which scored a mild upset on the opening day against Cuba, will look to stay among the tournament leaders against Serbia on Monday. Poland’s block was on target in the opening day of the tournament with six different players accounting for 10 blocks. Poland won the last meeting versus Poland, a four-set win during the 2010 FIVB World Championship first round. Serbia will seek their first win of the World Cup after falling to Argentina in three sets on the opening day as captain Ivan Miljkovic tallied a team-high 11 points.

Argentina (1-0, 3 points) versus Japan (0-1, 0 points)
Argentina hold a slim 11-8 lead in the series against host Japan, including a four-set win in the 2010 FIVB World Championship second round. Argentina received balanced scoring led by Facundo Conte’s 15 points and Federico Pereyra’s 14 points in their opening victory over Serbia. Japan will look to get on track Monday after a four-set loss to Iran as they committed 30 errors in the match. Kunihiro Shimizu led Japan with 16 points.

Pool B at Kagoshima

Egypt (0-1, 0 points) versus Italy (0-1, 0 points)
Both Italy and Egypt will be looking for their first FIVB World Cup Japan 2011 victories on the second day of competition. Italy will try to bounce back from a four-set loss to Russia in which they had 19 service errors. A bright spot for Italy on their opening day was 26 points from Michal Lasko. Egypt’s Ahmed Abdelhay scored 14 points in the loss. Italy lead the series against Egypt 8-1 with the most recent match being an Italian sweep in the first round of the 2010 FIVB World Championship.

Russia (1-0, 3 points) versus China (0-1, 0 points)
Russia weathered a first-set loss to Italy on the opening day to come back and earn three points in an early key battle. Maxim Mikhaylov paced No. 2 team in the world over the No. 3 team. China lost to No. 4 USA to open the FIVB World Cup, and their tournament schedule does not get any easier by facing No. 2 Russia. Hongmin Bian paced China with 10 points, including three of his squad’s eight blocks. Russia have dominated the series with China, having won 31 of 32 matches. China’s only victory over Russia was during the 1995 FIVB World League.

FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup Highlights
Tournament Leading Scorers
1 Michal Lasko (ITA) 26 points
2 Fernando Hernandez Ramos (CUB) 21 points
3 Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS) 19 points
4 Clayton Stanley (USA) 17 points 
5 Kunihiro Shimizu (JPN) 16 points

Top Scoring Performances
26 – Michal Lasko (ITA) v RUS, Nov. 20
21 – Fernando Hernandez Ramos (CUB) v POL on Nov. 20
19 – Maxim Mikhaylov (RUS) v ITA on Nov. 20
17 – Clayton Stanley (USA) v CHN on Nov. 20
16 – Kunihiro Shimizu (JPN) v IRI on Nov. 20

Top Scorers by Day
November 20: 26 – Michal Lasko (Italy) versus Russia

Top Blocking Performances
7 – Alexander Volkov (RUS) v ITA on Nov. 20
5 – Pablo Crer (ARG) vs SRB on Nov. 20
4 – Clayton Stanley (USA) v CHN on Nov. 20
4 – Chunlong Liang (CHN) v USA on Nov. 20
4 – Alireza Nadi (IRI) v JPN on Nov. 20 

Top Service Ace Performances
3 – Matthew Anderson (USA) v CHN on Nov. 20
3 – Lucas Saatkamp (BRA) v EGY on Nov. 20

Highest Set Score: 25-23 – USA v CHN (Set 2) on Nov. 20; POL v CUB (Set 2); IRI v JPN (Set 3) on Nov. 20

Highest Scoring Matches
187 – Russia beat Italy 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21 on Nov. 20
175 – Iran beat Japan 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-15 on Nov. 20

For more information contact:
FIVB Press Director Richard Baker
press@fivb.org or +81 (0)80 2584 4604