In the first three games of the day in the VNL men’s competition, France, Russia and Japan recorded important victories.
Germany – France 2-3 (25-22 22-25 25-22 16-25 15-17)
France recorded an important victory in today’s clash against Germany. The entry of Brisard, who replaced Toniutti in the 4th set, was the game changer. Trevor Clevenot was the top scorer with 21 points (5 aces), Stephen Boyer added 20. Moritz Reichert was Germany top scorer with 19 points.
Trevor Clevenot (FRA): It was a really good game for us. Germany are a strong team, so we are just happy that we won. These three aces [in tie break] – I’m just lucky. I tried to do some soft balls and it worked and made a difference. I think we were 3 points behind Germany and after that we levelled up the score. When you win a game you are happy, but we can definitely improve.
Moritz Reichert (GER): It was a really close match and both teams were fighting hard. Especially in the fifth set it was so close. A little bit of bad luck for us in the end, and we couldn’t manage to use our advantage. It’s sad that we lost, but we had a really good fight. France are a very good team, so we are always motivated to play well against them. They have very good block-defence and technique, so it’s hard to play them, but it’s always fun to play against this kind of opponent.
Iran – Russia 1-3 (17-25 25-20 20-25 17-25)
Russia has beaten Iran, which has to face the absences of Milad Ebadipoor (outside hitter) and Reza Abedini (middle blocker), Mohammad Reza Hazratpour (libero) and setter Saeed Maroof in the first few days in Rimini.
Igor Kobzar (RUS): Every win is important. Iran coach Vladimir Alekno knows most of the Russian players and our style of play, but we didn’t try to surprise him with our lineup or with anything else. We just wanted to play our game and show our best. Step by step, we want to improve. It was interesting to see this Iranian starting six, and I think it helped Iran to play without pressure.
Milad Ebadipour (IRI): We knew that we had to expect a tough game, because we played against Russia, one of the best teams in the world. They were really good, they were better than us, especially in the physical aspects of the match. I have to praise our young players, because they played really well. They pushed a lot and I think the Russians could feel it. Of course, we could have won this game, but we made some small mistakes during the match.
The Netherlands – Japan 2-3 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 17-25, 8-15)
After winning the first two sets, the Netherlands allowed Japan to reverse the course of the game and achieve a second victory in the tournament. Japanese national team member Ran Takahashi was the top scorer of the game with 26 points.. 25 points of Nimir Abdel-Aziz were not enough for the Netherlands to do anything more than win two sets in this match.
Thijs Ter Horst (NED): After the first two sets they started to put more pressure on us, and from our side we started to make some mistakes that were unnecessary. I think we wanted to close the game too quickly, instead of just playing our game. That’s why we made a few too many mistakes. We are here [at the VNL] for the first time. In addition a few guys have never played in the national team before, so it’s an amazing start for their international career. We have to enjoy, learn and keep going.
Ran Takahashi (JPN): The first two sets were very difficult for us, also mentally. However, what we did in the next three sets was showing in the game what we have worked on during training, and that was what helped us win this game. Playing a five-setter is a good experience for the future, and tomorrow we will try to play even better.
