Reza Ghara
Iran’s blocking game dominated the first set, with Venezuela unable to make enough impact with their attacks. Middle blocker Sama Faezi (2), opposite Reza Ghara (2), setter Farhad Salafzoon (1) and wing spiker Mojtaba Mirzajanpour (1) all contributed as Iran took the set 21-13.
Venezuela adjusted their tactics early in the second set, looking for touches into court instead of the big spikes that had fed Iran’s blocking game in the first, wing spikers Hector Salerno and Jhoser Contreras both picking up points this way as Venezuela took an early lead.
With low error counts from both teams, Iran kept the pressue on Venezuela with their serve, and wing spiker Hames Tariverdi joined colleague Mirzajanpour to add the attacking points that gave Iran the set 21-18.
Iran’s attack, specifically opposite Ghara – who finished as Iran’s top scorer in the match with 14, was too much for Venezuela to control and Iran went from a slight 12-11 lead at the technical timeout to a 21-17 set for a 3-0 win that gave them third place in pool B.
Captain Kervin Martin Pinerua Urbina added another 12 points to take his tournament total for Venezuela to 73.
The second phase of the tournament starts on Saturday and Iran and Venezuela will contest the 5th-8th classification matches. Their opponents are yet to be confirmed, but Iran will play whichever team finishes fourth in pool A, while Venezuela will play whichever team finishes third.
To read more news from this competition click on World Championship U23 M.
