Russian players' determination was at the highest in their straight sets victory over Egypt
Gdansk, Poland, September 3, 2014 – Russia overcame a close first set and easily coasted in the succeeding sets for a straight sets (25-22, 25-15, 25-15) victory over Egypt in Pool C of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Ergo Arena on Wednesday.
Key Points
• Russia took over first place in Pool C standings with the 3-0 win over Egypt.
• Russia and China are the only remaining unbeaten teams in Pool C.
• Dmitriy Ilynykh had an excellent stint at the attack line with 12 attacks scored out of his 13 points.
• Russia outscored Egypt in blocks 11-4 and service aces 7-0.
Egypt took a surprising lead over the much-experienced Russians 8-7 at the first technical timeout, from an excellent offensive performance by Ahmed Abdelhay. Russia struck back with effective spiking and a couple of service aces by Alexey Spiridonov and Nikolay Pavlov.
The Egyptians fought aggressively, resulting to a tight score 18-17 in favour of the Russians. Dmitriy Muserskiy and Spiridonov made a late surge with their damaging serves that forced the Egyptian defenders to commit errors. Russia got hold of the lead at 24-21 until Spiridonov ended the set with a kill 25-22.
Russia seemed more focus in the second set that gave way for them to dictate the pace. The Russians built a comfortable lead of 11-5 from their brilliant display of solid blocks and excellent attack plays from Nikolay Apalikov. They stayed determined until the end and did not let the Egyptians to make any further run. Abdelhay managed to get some points from the attack line but could not turn around things for his squad. Russia finished off the set 25-15 to lead the match 2-0.
The Egyptian spirit seemed to have been affected by their setback in the second set that permitted the Russians to have a 9-4 advantage. Egypt somehow were able to shift momentum back to their side but the players individual efforts were not enough to overtake the strong presence of the Russians. Russia continued to lead by the second technical timeout 16-8 and keyed-in more points from blocks and service aces by Pavlov and Ilynykh. Finally a strong serve by Spiridonov and an Egyptian service error sealed the match victory for Russia 25-15.