Russia dropped a set against Mexico but prevailed the succeeding sets to stay on top of Pool C standings
Gdansk, Poland, September 5, 2014 – Russia got a surprise in the first set from Mexico but nonetheless managed to defeat the North American side 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-17) to remain on top of the standings in Pool C of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Ergo Arena on Friday.
Key Points
• Russia finally dropped a set in the tournament after perfect match records in their first two matches.
• Mexico’s Daniel Vargas fired 20 points but was not enough to give his team a victory.
• Dmitriy Muserskiy only substituted in all four sets and was rather silent charting only three points.
• Russians had solid blocking against the Mexicans 12-2.
Russia coach Andrey Voronkov fielded in his reserve players in the first set to rest his usual starters but the move backfired as Mexico led the Russians. Daniel Vargas took charge of the Mexican offence scoring on counter-attacks against the European side. Russia retaliated but Mexico had good control of the set and protected their lead at 17-15. Then it was Tomas Aguilera’s turn to run the Mexican offence to extend their lead 21-17. Mexico capitalised on the combination plays that stunned the Russians that secured the first set for them 25-21.
Mexico still had some fire and matched well against the Russians. Voronkov sent in his usual starters without Dimitriy Muserskiy, but got a good performance from Sergey Savin and Denis Biriukov. Mexico did not settle to be outplayed by Russia and tied the score at 10-all. Andrey Aschev tightened the Russians’ defence at the net and deflected attacks by Aguilera and Jorge Quinones to widen the gap at 18-14. Mexico tried to narrow the gap but Russia still seized the set 25-20 from a Vargas service blunder.
The good spirit of the Mexican side failed to change the tempo of the game as Russia earned points in every department for a 10-2 score on the board. Biriukov’s serve became troublesome for the Mexican defenders, then a near-perfect defence system got them into a good position to control the score 17-8. Artem Volvich joined in the scoring to put them further ahead 22-11 until Savin closed the set 25-14 for the Russian side.
Vargas tried to put back the energy from their first set performance for Mexico, with powerful spikes but Russia still led 13-9. Mexico ran out of steam and started committing errors and showed lackluster defence. Russia raised the lead 21-16 after a fine kill on a counter-attack by Moroz. Muserskiy, who was briefly fielded in the set completed a block for the match victory 25-17.