Press release

Ankara, Turkey, September 1, 2013 – Russia claimed the FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship title with a fantastic performance in the gold medal match with Brazil.  The team around coach Mikhail Nikolaev made volleyball look like an easy game as they proved too strong for the South American powerhouse by 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-20) to defend their champion’s title from 2011.

Russia took charge of the situation in the first set.  With a solid contribution of eight points from left-handed opposite Victor Poletaev, the European team cruised to an impressive 25-16 to take the lead.  In the second set Brazil stepped up their blocking performance in search of a response, but so did Russia.  Poletaev continued to fly as his team made another giant step towards the title with another convincing 25-16.  The South American side kept trying to find the stop button on the Russian machine with their opposite Alan Souza spiking one point after another, but there was no stopping to Victor Poletaev & Co.  Russia continued to dominate through the end when captain Egor Feoktistov’s powerful spike registered the last point of the championship to stop the clock at 25-20.

Victor Poletaev scored four of Russia’s eight aces that gave them the biggest advantage in this final.  He added another 13 attacking points and 3 blocking points for a total of 20 to become the best scorer of the game.  Alan Souza was Brazil’s most prolific player with 14 points.

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