Brazil and Russia join Poland as teams with spots in next round

Katowice and Gdansk, Poland, September 5, 2014 – Three time defending champions and No. 1 world ranked Brazil and Olympic champions and world’s No. 2 Russia both joined hosts Poland as sides with secured spots in the round of sixteen teams to stay in contention at the FIVB Men’s World Championship.The two volleyball powerhouses maintained their unblemished records in Pools B and C at 3-0 and the maximum of 9 points possible by winning their matches on Friday.The Brazilians had to battle before subduing Finland in straight sets (27-25, 25-21, 26-24) while Russia bounced back after dropping the opening set to beat Mexico 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-17).In Pool B in Katowice, Cuba defeated Korea 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22) and Germany outplayed Tunisia 3-1 (25-13, 25-19, 21-25, 25-12). In Pool C in Gandsk, Bulgaria blanked China 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) and Canada whitewashed Egypt 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-22).Positions Pool B: Brazil (3-0, 9 points), Germany (2-1, 6), Finland (2-1, 5), Cuba (1-2, 4), Korea (1-2, 3), Tunisia (0-3, 0)Positions Pool C: Russia (3-0, 9 points), Bulgaria (2-1, 7), China (2-1, 6), Canada (2-1, 5), Egypt (0-3, 0), Mexico (0-3, 0).Pool B in KatowiceCuba 3, Korea 1Cuba claimed their first victory after two initial losses as they continued to dominate Korea at major tournaments winning 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-14, 25-22) with a 15-4 advantage in the blocking category. Korea dropped also to 1-2 with 3 points to Cuba’s four.It was the 41st victory for the Cubans in 42 meetings with Korea in major tournaments, including World Championships, World Leagues, World Cups and Olympic Games.Key facts• Cuba have won their last 10 matches against Asian teams at the WCH • Korea have won only one of their last five WCH matchesFelix Chapman recorded half of his 14 points via blocks as the second best scorer of Cuba behind Osmany Uriarte’s 17 tallies in the victory. Javier Jimenez and Rolando Cepeda chipped in with 12 and 10, respectively. Chul-Woo Park led Korea with 14 points in the losing effort.Germany 3, Tunisia 1World No. 10 Germany defeated No. 14 Tunisia 3-1 (25-13, 25-19, 21-25, 25-12) to advance to second place in Pool B and leaving the North-African team with empty-hands after three appearances this year.The Germans held a commanding advantage of 13-4 in the blocking department and outserved their opponents 6-1 in the aces category.Key facts• It was the second victory of Germany against Tunisia in as many matches at WCH• Tunisia have lost their last six World Championship matches Marcus Bohme registered 12 points as Germany’s scoring leader while Christian Fromm and Denys Kaliberda had 10 points apiece. Maoren Garci topped Tunisia with twelve tallies.Brazil 3, Finland 0Brazil won the battle between undefeated teams prevailing in straight sets (27-25, 25-21, 26-24) over Finland. The reigning champions improved to 3-0 as they continued their campaign for an unprecedented fourth consecutive title.Key facts• Brazil have won their last seven World Championship matches• The Brazilians have prevailed in 13 of their last 14 matches against European teamsIt was a very close battle all the way with a good crowd of Finn fans supporting their team while dressed with white and blue attire.Ricardo Lucarelli Santos Wallace Souza and Lukas Saatkamp were the main offensive players of the South American squad with 19, 18 and 12 points, respectively, while Olli-Pekka Ojansivu stood out for Finland with 16 tallies.Pool C in GdanskBulgaria 3, China 0It was a discovery day for Bulgaria as they found the way to stop China’s scoring machine Zhi Yuan while learning about a couple of hidden sources of power within their own squad.Zhi, who had scored 61 points in his two previous matches, was limited to eight tallies for the match as Bulgaria claimed a 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-17) victory to improve their record to 2-1 and seven points with two days to go in the preliminary phase.Key facts• Bulgaria have won six of their last seven meetings with China• It was the 100th match of China at World Championship (45-55)Meanwhile, two non-starting Bulgarian were called into action and both produced positive results as the top offensive contributors in the victory. Todor Skrimov and Danail Milushev finished with 12 and 11 points despite starting only in the second and third set, respectively. China’s Geng Xin and Zhong Weijun finished with 13 and 12 points, while their team dropped to 2-1 with six points.Canada 3, Egypt 0Canada cruised past Egypt in straight sets (24-14, 25-19, 25-22) reducing drastically the chances of the winless African team of moving up to the second round of matches. The winners, who lost to Russia in their opening match, are now at 2-1 with four points, while the losers were kept at bay with a 0-3 win-loss record. The Canadians overwhelmed their opponents in every aspect of the game with margins of 9-2 and 8-3 in the blocking and aces charts.Key facts• First back-to-back victories of Canada since 2006• Egypt have lost seven matches in a row at the World ChampionshipGavin Schmitt spearheaded Canada with 17 points followed by John Gordon Perrin and Nicholas Hoag with 10 apiece. Egypt’s Ahmed Abdelhay finished with 14 points while Mamdouh Abdelrehim added 10.Russia 3, Mexico 1In the first match ever between Russia and Mexico at the World Championship, the European side had to recover from dropping the first set before sealing the victory.Sergey Savin led four Russian players with double figures in the scoring charts with 18 points in the third triumph of the Olympic champions without losses. The score was 21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-17.Key facts • No player from Russia has scored 20 points in their three matches so far• Mexico have lost five consecutive matches in the world championshipPavel Moroz, Denis Biriukov and Artem Volvich contributed 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively, in the victory.  Mexico’s Daniel Vargas had a match-high 20 points and Carlos Guerra added 12 as their side suffered their third consecutive loss in as many outings in the competition.Best performancesTop scorer by day24- Taylor Sander of United States v Belgium on 31-8-1431- Zhi Yuan of China v Egypt on 1-9-1427- Antonin Rouzier of France v Italy on 2-9-1430- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-1420- Nikola Kovacevic of Serbia v Australia on 4-9-1420- Jiri Kovar of Italy v Belgium on 4-9-1420- Daniel Vargas of Mexico v Russia on 5-9-14Top scoring performances31- Zhi Yuan of China v Egypt on 1-9-1430- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-1427- Antonin Rouzier of France v Italy on 2-9-1426- Kervin Piñerúa of Venezuela v Cameroon on 2-9-1426- Matt Anderson of United States v Iran on 2-9-1425- Taylor Sander of United States v Iran on 2-9-1425- Jean Patrice Ndaki of Cameroon v Venezuela on 2-9-1425- Ivan Zaytsev of Italy v France on 2-9-14Top blocking performances8- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v Italy on 31-8-147- Seyed Mousavi of Iran v France on 4-9-147- Felix Chapman of Cuba v Korea on 5-9-146- Maxwell Holt of United States v Iran on 2-9-14Top serving performances6- Zhi Yuan of China v Mexico on 3-9-146- Ricardo Lucarelli Santos of Brazil v Finland on 5-9-145- Dimitriy Muserskiy of Russia v Canada on 1-9-144- Jose Carrasco of Venezuela v Cameroon on 2-9-144- Gyorgy Grozer of Germany v Cuba on 3-9-144- Todor Skrimov of Bulgaria v Canada on 3-9-144- Mikko Esko of Finland v Korea on 3-9-14Top team blocking performances16- Korea v Tunisia on 1-9-1416- Italy v Belgium on 4-9-1415- Iran v Italy on 31-8-1415- Finland v Cuba on 1-9-1415- United States v Iran on 2-9-1415- Cuba v Korea on 5-9-14Top team serving performances11- Venezuela v Cameroon on 2-9-149- Bulgaria v Canada on 3-9-148- Canada v Egypt on 5-9-147- Cuba v Finland on 1-9-147- China v Bulgaria on 5-9-14Highest scoring sets33-31 China v Egypt (4th Set) on 1-9-1433-31 Cameroon v Venezuela (3rd Set) on 2-9-1429-27 France v Iran (4th Set) on 4-9-1428-26 Belgium v Italy (1st Set) on 4-9-1428-26 Italy v Belgium (4th Set) on 4-9-1427-25 Finland d Cuba (3rd Set) on 1-9-1427-25 Russia v Finland (1st Set) on 5-9-14Highest scoring matches216- Finland d Cuba 3-2 (18-25, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 15-12) on 1-9-14211- Iran d United States 3-2 (25-23, 25-19, 19-25, 18-25, 17-15) on 2-9-14203- Italy d France 3-2 (20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-13, 15-12) on 2-9-14202- Canada d Bulgaria 3-2 (17-25, 25-17, 20-25, 26-24, 15-8) on 3-9-14