Slobodan Kovac praised his setter Marouflakrani's fast and accurate style of play
David Lee - USA captain: "This game has been decided from the service line. Our serving made the difference for us in third and fourth set, and also in the fifth one, as Iran did it well. If we want to win, we need to work on keeping good serves in the last part of the match. Anyway, I'm proud of my guys for taking a point and fighting back."
Mir Saeid Marouflakrani - Iran captain: "We had a lot of struggle with USA in the last two month, always losing, but we started well, did good in defence and our side-out was good today. These points are really important for us. We didn't expect such a start, but the match with Italy helped us a bit. No one expected us to win these two matches so we are delighted with this perfect start."
John Speraw - USA coach: "I'm also proud for being able to come back and it's heartbreaking that we've lost. The guys looked much better in the third set and I wish we could bring this energy much earlier. This is an opportunity for my team to grow; we are not playing as efficiently and sharp as we did in the past. As for Iran, they played just fantastic volleyball, they have a great setter and deserved to win today."
Slobodan Kovac - Iran coach: "When we have a good day we can play against anybody. When our setter has the ball above his head, we play fast and good. We stopped a little bit later and USA started to serving better, with also a few blocks that made it difficult for us. Three weeks ago we've played four matches and lost all of them. Maybe they thought they'd win Iran without any problem and this one would finish the same. That's why my players played so hard."