Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5, 2011 – Teams of Argentina, Russia, United States and Brazil all achieved victories in the opening day of the top-eight second round of the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship being played at Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro.
The round-robin in Pools E and F runs until Sunday with the top two ranked teams of each group reaching the semifinal phase of the biennial competition for men under 21 years old.
In Pool F, Argentina collected an early 3-1 victory over India by score of 25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 25-19, while United States defeated Iran 22-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-17.
In Pool E, Russia blanked Spain 25-20, 25-18, 25-20, followed by the 25-16, 25-19, 25-21 triumph of Brazil against Serbia.
In Niteroi, where the competition for the positions 9-16 also got underway on Friday, Canada trounced Japan 25-12, 25-17, 25-14 and Tunisia downed Egypt 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-13) in Pool G.
In Pool H, Germany won 25-14, 25-22, 32-34, 25-12 over Puerto Rico and Belgium defeated Bulgaria 25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23.
Saturday’s schedule in Rio de Janeiro features Iran v Russia, Serbia v India, United States v Spain and Brazil v Argentina.
In the round of Niteroi: Belgium v Germany, Canada v Egypt, Japan v Tunisia and Bulgaria v Puerto Rico.
Live scoring, results, news and photos on FIVB Volleyball Men's Junior World Championship Brazil 2011.
Pool E –Second Round- Positions 1-8
Russia 3, Spain 0
Russia opened the second round of the FIVB Men's Junior World Championship with a straight-set (25-20, 25-18, 25-20) victory over Spain in a match of Pool E played at Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro.
Winning team’s opposite Andrey Kolesnik topped the scorers with 14 points while teammate Igor Filippov contributed 13 points -seven of them via blocks. Oleg Tsentalovich added 11 tallies. Spain's outside hitter Francisco Ruiz led the defeated side finished with 13 and Borja Ruiz notched 11.
United States 3, Iran 1
United States tied Russia atop of Pool E as the American team recovered to outclass Iran 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-17). The main difference of the match was the American block power, responsible for 22 points for their side, while the Iranian scored only 10 from this element.
Americans Joshua Taylor and Taylor Sander each recorded 17 points. Taylor Crabb (13), Eric Mochalski (12) and Dylan Davis (11) also scored on double digits for the winners with Davis totaling 6 blocks. Iranian Pourya Fayazi scored 14 points as also did Amir Ghafour.
Pool F –Second Round- Positions 1-8
Argentina 3, India 1
Argentina picked up the first win of Pool B as they defeated India 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 25-19) on Friday morning. With the win, Argentina starts ahead in the group, collecting its first three points. The winners held a 14-10 margin in the blocking category.
Argentinean opposite Ivan Castellani topped the scorers with 18 points, while teammate Martin Ramos added 16. Gustavo Vaca and Agustin Ramonda collected 15 and 11 points respectively. India’s middle blocker G.R. Vaishnav scored 15 points while T.D. Ravikumar and Selvaprabhu Dhanabaln each registered 11 points.
Brazil 3, Serbia 0
Playing its best match so far, hosts Brazil crushed Serbia in straight sets (25-16, 25-19 and 25-21) in the last match of Friday at Maracanazinho Gymnasium. With the win, Brazil leads Pool F alongside Argentina, with each side collecting three points so far.
Brazilian outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli topped the scorers, with 18 points, followed by Lucas Loh and Luan Weber who contributed 13 and 12 respectively to the win. Serbian opposite Aleksandar Atanasijevic had 15 and Uros Kovacevic charted 14 points.
Pool G –Second Round- Positions 9-16
Canada 3, Japan 0
With a large band of Canadian and Brazilian supporters, Canada had the home court advantage as they swept Japan, 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-14) in the first Pool G match on Friday.
Canada's Tristan Aubry led the winners with 14 points on nine attacks, four blocks and one service ace. Nicholas Hoag and Lucas Van Berkel added 11 points each. Takashi Dekita, the tournament's leading scorer to this point, topped Japan with a match-high 16 points, including two blocks and two service winners. Canada held the advantage in attacks 32-22 and also led in blocks, 16-4 and aces, 9-2.
Tunisia 3, Egypt 1
Two teams very familiar with each other squared off in Friday’s second Pool G match, with Tunisia coming out on top of Egypt, 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-13) to claim its first victory in the competition.
Tunisia’s Racam Siala led all scorers with 21 points on 18 attacks, two blocks and one service ace. Mohamed Arbi Ben Abdallah added 14 points, all on spikes. Egyptian Eslam Abou El Hassan had 20 points in the losing cause with 16 spikes and a match-high four blocks. Tunisia took advantage of its fellow African nation’s 42 team errors while committing 23. Tunisia led in spikes, 44-34 and in service aces 7-6 while Egypt led in blocks, 14-5.
Pool H –Second Round- Positions 9-16
Germany 3, Puerto Rico 1
After finishing in the cellar in their first round’s pool, Germany went to Niteroi and won their first match against Puerto Rico, 3 -0 (25-14, 25-22, 32-34, 25-12) in the first evening. Germany established the difference in attacks (46-40) and blocks (17-10). In the third set, Germany fought off five Puerto Rico set points while Puerto Rico stopped Germany seven times before finally winning the set 34-32.
Gemany team captain Bjorn Hohne led all scorers with 20 points, including four blocks and one service ace. Paul Sprung added 18 points on 12 spikes two blocks and a match-high four aces. Ricardo Archilla led Puerto Rico with 17 points and Steven Morales added 14 points.
Belgium 3, Bulgaria 1
The last match of Friday in Niteroi saw Belgium defeating Bulgaria 3-1 (25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23).
Francois Lecat and Sam Deroo were the most productive players of the winning side registering 20 and 19 points respectively. Anchel Ver Eecke contributed 11 tallies. Five Bulgarian players finished in double figures but couldn’s compensate the 35 unforced errors by the defeated side. Nikolay Penchev led with 18 and Zlatan Yordanov, Jani Jezliakov, Ventsislav Trifonov and Ventsislav Ragin finished with 14, 13, 12 and 11 respectively.
Highest Scorer by Day
Day 1 (August 1): 31 points by Simon Hirsch (Germany) in the 3-1 loss to India
Day 2 (August 2): 47 points by Takashi Dekita (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Bulgaria
Day 3 (August 3) 27 points by Steven Morales (Puerto Rico) in the 3-2 victory over Tunisia
Day 4 (August 5) 21 points by Racem Siala (Tunisia) in the 3-1 victory over Egypt
Top Scoring Performances
47 – Takashi Dekita (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Bulgaria on August 2
38 – Aleksandar Atanasijevic (Serbia) in the 3-2 victory over Iran on August 2
31 – Simon Hirsch (Germany) in the 3-1 loss to India on August 1
27 – Takashi Dekita (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Brazil on August 1
27 – Steven Morales (Puerto Rico) in the 3-2 victory over Tunisia on August 3
Top Blocking Performances
11- Mohamed El Askolany (Egypt) in the 3-1 victory over Germany on August 2
8 – Lucas Van Berkel (Canada) in the 3-2 loss to Serbia on August 3
7 – Ventsislav Ragin (Bulgaria) in the 3-2 loss to Japan on August 2
7 – Igor Filippov (Russia) in the 3-0 victory over Spain on August 5
6 – G.R. Vaishnav (India) in the 3-0 victory over Egypt on August 3
6 – Dylan Davis (United States) in the 3-1 victory over Iran on August 5
Top Service Ace Performances
4 – Andrey Kolesnik (Russia) in the 3-0 victory over India on August 2
4 – Uros Kovacevic (Serbia) in the 3-2 victory over Iran on August 2
4 – Paul Sprung (Germany) in the 3-1 victory over Puerto Rico on August 5
3 – Andrey Kolesnik (Russia) in the 3-0 victory over Egypt on August 1
3 – Jorge Lopez (Puerto Rico) in the 3-1 loss to Argentina on August 1
3 – Hatem Obba (Tunisia) in the 3-1 loss to Spain on August 1
3 – Yamato Fushimi (Japan) in the 3-2 victory over Brazil on August 1
3 – Steve Morales (Puerto Rico) in the 3-2 victory over Tunisia on August 3
3 – Hatem Obba (Tunisia) in the 3-2 loss to Puerto Rico on August 3
Highest Set Score
34-32 (Puerto Rico versus Germany) in second round on August 5 in Niteroi
33-31 (Japan versus Bulgaria) in first round on August 2 in Rio de Janeiro
30-28 (Serbia versus Iran) in first round on August 2 in Niteroi
26-24 (Egypt versus Germany) in first round on August 2 in Rio de Janeiro
26-24 (Germany versus Russia) in first round on August 3 in Rio de Janeiro
Highest Scoring Matches
224 – Serbia def. Iran 23-25, 22-25, 30-28, 25-18, 15-13 in first round on August 2 in Niteroi
223 – Japan def. Bulgaria 20-25, 20-25, 33-31, 25-18, 15-11 in first round on August 2 in Rio de Janeiro
216 - Japan def. Brazil 21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 18-16 in first round on August 1 in Rio de Janeiro
211 – Brazil def. Bulgaria 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8 in first round on August 3 in Rio de Janeiro
202 – Puerto Rico def. Tunisia 20-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11 in first round on August 3 in Niteroi