CWCH M: Zaksa making emotional comeback against Sarmayeh from two sets down!

Zaksa

More or less, Sarmayeh were superior in the first two sets which they claimed by a 25-19 and 25-20 but then, Zaksa began to wake up, showing what they were made of. After demolishing the rivals in the third set (25-16), they got an even stronger adrenaline rush in the fourth set. At 12-12, Zaksa made a 6-1 run and went on the second TTO with a six-point lead (18-13). By committing three errors in a row, Zaksa allowed Sarmayeh to get back in the game (18-16). At 22-20, Sarmayeh made a 3-0 run which was crowned with Mousavi’s attack. Sarmayeh missed converting a match ball at 25-24. Later on, Zaksa had three set balls, Sarmayeh one more match ball, before Deroo pushed the Polish titleholders to the tie-break.

And what an emotional tie-break it was. Throughout the first half of the fifth set, Zaksa had a two-point lead. It seemed that the Iranian team took the control of the tie-break at the right time for themselves (11-10, 12-11). Zaksa’s coach Gardini was forced to call a TO at 13-14 in order to calm his wards down and prevent Sarmayeh to convert already their first match ball in the set. And he was successful in this! Sarmayeh missed one more match ball (15-14). At 15-15, Mahmoudi hit the antenna with his kill while Torres’ monster attack split apart Sarmayeh’s defense – 17-15 and match for Zaksa in nearly soldout Opole Arena!

The faces of the players of Iranian and Asian champions Sarmayeh at the end of the match said more than a thousand words. Literally, all of them were covering the faces with their hands and sitting on the floor in disbelief…

Sarmayeh

The Puerto Rican Maurice Torres poured in 26 points for Zaksa, while Mojtaba Mirzajanpour scored 24 points for Sarmayeh.

Club World Championship 2017 / Male / Seniors

MAIN ROUND / POOL A

MAIN ROUND / POOL B

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