MATCH INFO

Niterói, Brazil, August 2, 2011 – In the first match on the Niterói cluster to get to a tie-break set and one of the longest so far in the tournament, Serbia won 3–2 (23-25, 22-25, 30-28, 25-28, 15-13) to take the lead in Pool D at the FIVB Volleyball Men's Junior World Championship at the Caio Martins gymnasium.

Serbia (2-0) are the first team to be qualified for the top eight in Rio de Janeiro, but will play Canada (0-2) on Wednesday to try to secure the pool victory. Iran (1-1) will play Belgium (1-1) to determine the second team to go to Rio.

Serbia captain Aleksandar Atanasijevic led all scorers with 38 points on match-high 34 attacks, one block and three service aces. Uros Kovacevic added 20 points on 14 spikes, two blocks and a match-high four service aces. Pourya Fayazi led Iran with 23 points on 20 spikes and three blocks.

Iran led the statistics in attacks, 61-59 and blocks, 17-11. Serbia led in service aces, 7-4 and also scored 38 points on Iran’s errors while committing 27.

In the first set, Serbia led 5-3 early in the match before Iran took over and held the 8-6 advantage  at the first technical timeout (TTO). Iran used hard hitting and strong blocking to pull ahead at 23-17 before Serbian coach Milan Zarkovic called timeout. Serbia’s Srecko Lisinac responded with a spike. Aleksandar Atanasijevic took the serve and scored with an ace to make it 23-19. Serbia scored again on Iran’s violation and it was Iranian coach Jovica Cvetkovic’s turn to call timeout. Serbia scored again with a block and then Atanasijevic’s second ace pulled Serbia to within one at 23-22. Iran reached set point at 24-22 with a spike, but then served out of bounds. Iran blocked Serbia’s final attack for the set win.

Serbia tried another comeback in the second set. With Iran leading 23-19, its next serve went into the net. Atanasijevic took the serve and Serbia scored on a block from Lisinac. Iran called timeout and Amir Ghafour responded with a strike to end Sebia’s rally and bring Iran to set point. Atanasijevic scored again on a right-side spike, but Iran’s Pourya Fayazi ended the matter with an attack.

The third set was the longest of the round so far at 38 minutes and was a battle throughout with each team jockeying for position. Serbia reached set point first at 24-23 but Iran’s Mojtaba Mirzajanpour fought it off with a kill. Sebia took two more set points that Iran fought off. Iran reached its first match point at 27-26 and again at 28-27. Serbia responded with a kill by Atanasijevic to tie the score. Iran was called for a double contact to give Serbia its fourth set point and an ace by Uros Kovacevic sealed the set victory for Serbia.

The teams were tied at 8-8 in the fourth set when Serbia scored twice to go ahead 10-8. It never trailed again.  Iran pulled to within one at 12-11, but Serbia scored three straight points to hold it off. Iran scored its final point of the set to make the score 22-18 when Serbia served into the net. Serbia came back with yet another Atanasijevic spike. Iran called timeout, but Lisinac scored the last two points of the set with attacks.

The teams were tied 10-10 in the tie-breaking set when Atanasijevic scored with an attack and Serbia scored again on a tip. Iran called timeout, but its next attack went out of bounds and Serbia led 13-10. Iran pulled to within one at 13-12, but Serbia used a triple block and, appropriately, a final Atanasijevic spike to win the match for Serbia.

On Wednesday, the last day for Pool D matches, Iran will meet Belgium at 4 p.m. local time, while Serbia play Canada, at 6:30 p.m.