JPN vs. RUS
Japanese mentality has always been something special. Unlike some national teams, they never play motiveless, especially in front of the home crowd. The match against Russia ment nothing to them, but they were determined to win, at least they did it in the first and third set.
Ishikawa’s ace crowned stunning start of the match for the Asians 6-1! Still, with so much euphoria around them, Japanese players started to make mistakes and experienced Russian team knew how to punish it. Muserskiy’s spike leveled 12-12. Japanese coach had to call time-out since his players trailed 21-18. Yanagida reduced gap 21-20, but „Zbornaya“ gained two-point lead again 23-20. Ishikawa equalized 23-23 and later on, converted third set ball of his team 29-27 as Russia missed two.
Mikhaylov put Russians up front at beginning of Set 2, 4-2. With two consecutive blocks, Russia gained a three-point gap at second TTO 16-13. Poletaev gave Russia 19-14 while Muserskiy sealed Japanese destiny 22-14 in this set. Final blow from „Zbornaya“ was given by Grankin 25-17.
Ishikawa’s spike-serve combo play payed off to Japan 7-2. In Set 3. Japan was on fire as Shimizu joined Ishikawa and all of that supported by loud fans in the arena led to 16-10. Sivozhelez’s, Mikhaylov’s and Muserskiy’s successful attacks brought uncertainty to the set 20-19, but two in a row from Ishikawa were enough to repel „Zbornaya“ 22-19. Final score was 25-21.
Ilinykh and Muserskiy were confident at start of Set 4, besides the fact that Japanese players struggled to serve properly 8-6. Ishikawa had hard time to pass through Russia’s block 16-12. In the second half of the set, Vlasov was the figure to stand out with several blocks and finally with an ace 25-17.
Russia was more determined at the start of a tie-break 6-4 with Ilinykh keeping pace 10-8. With two in a row from Shimizu, Japan leveled 13-13, but Vlasov and Sivozhelez with an ace gave win to their team 15-13.
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