Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament Recap - Day 2: Comebacks everywhere!
Photo: FIVB
The theme for the continuation of the World Olympic Qualification in Tokyo is comeback/bounce back/recover—you name it! After setting the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium ablaze on the opening day, the 8 teams vying for an Olympic slot yet again entertained the fans with heart-stopping, pressure-packed, not-for-the-weak-of-heart action and drama.
See WOQT Day 2 ranking here.
Here’s a recap of the WOQT day 2 action.
Iran digs way out from the grave
Photo: FIVB
Hearts were pumping. Sweats were dripping. Fans inside the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium were biting their fingernails as they witness a neck-and-neck battle between Iran and Canada.
And just as Canada is running away with the win after getting a 2-0 sets lead, Iran summoned all their courage to turn things around and win in the tiebreak set, 27-29, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-12.
Photo: FIVB
Milad Ebadipour scored 26 huge points (25 attacks, 1 block) to mount their unbelievable comeback against Canada. Yesterday’s top-scorer Amir Ghafour added 19.
On the North American side, Gavin Schmitt put up a 27-point performance (22 attacks, 2 blocks, 3 aces) only to find his team on a free-fall. Nicholas Hoag and Justin Duff both added 14 points. This is Canada’s second straight defeat in the WOQT and also their second straight defeat in a 5-setter match.
Photo: FIVB
Canada gave Iran a lot of trouble receiving with their loaded serves in the first half of the match, but the Iranians found an antidote to their reception woes and woke up right on time to salvage themselves from the grave.
Iran turned the tables as Canada’s passing unit suddenly started falling apart. Seyed Mousavi scored a team-high 4 aces to catch up with the aces Canada tallied early in the match. Iran was credited with 48% excellent passing while Canada had 42%.
Photo: FIVB
The Iranian team will have extra time to prepare for their next match against WOQT favorites France on Tuesday. Canada, on the other hand, will try to get their first W against Australia.
Volleyroos deny Venezuelan access
Photo: FIVB
After getting denied at the net countless times in their match against Iran, Australia bounced back and handed Venezuela their 2nd straight defeat in 4, 19-25, 25-20, 25-10, 25-19.
Venezuelan attacks were nowhere to go as the Volleyroos denied 11 of their attacks while Venezuela tallied only 4 blocks. Australia lost in the same fashion to Iran yesterday.
Photo: FIVB
The vocal Australian captain Thomas Edgar is back in shape after getting sidelined in their opening day match due to an abdominal strain. He carried his team with 22 points, 19 coming from attacks, a stuff block, and two aces. Middle blocker Aiden Zingel was rock solid at the net, tallying 5 of Australia’’s block points. He finished the match with 10 points.
Kevin Urbina was yet again the lone bright spot on the Venezuelan team as he scored 19 markers off 16 attacks and 3 aces. Willner Quijada contributed 10 of his own.
Photo: FIVB
In the first set that Australia lost, Venezuela converted a lot of points from their rock solid floor defense. The Volleyroos finally got their good rhythm at the net in the succeeding sets.
Aside from their solid net defense, Australia also benefited from the 33 unforced errors Venezuela committed—mostly from attacks—while they made only 16. Despite tallying two more attacks than the Aussies (48-46), Venezuela simply cannot minimize their errors and find the seams on the Australian block.
Photo: FIVB
Australia will have an extra day to prepare before facing win-hungry Canada on Tuesday. Venezuela, meanwhile, will try to score their first win in their match against China.
Poland completes comeback against France
Photo: FIVB
Three is the lucky number for Poland as Dawid Konarski comes off the bench to carry Poland to a come-from-behind win over WOQT favorites France, 22-25, 13-25, 31-29, 25-17, 15-12.
It looked like a hopeless cause for Poland after losing the 2nd set by 12 points to give France a 2-0 lead, and after the Frenchmen pulled away by a large margin in the 3rd, but the reigning World Champions—with the help of the Polish fans at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium—made a gallant effort to turn things around and run away with the win.
Photo: FIVB
Konarski was the gem for the red and white as he took the place of star hitter Bartosz Kurek on the 2nd set and started in the remaining sets. He finished the match with 19 points from 18 attacks and a service ace. Rafał Buszek, who took the place of yesterday’s surprise Mateusz Mika, added 15 points.
While World League MVP Earvin Ngapeth and European Championship MVP Antonin Rouzier top scored for Les Bleus with 22 and 19, respectively, middle blocker Kevin LeRoux was Poland’s kryptonite as most of France’s scoring runs in the first two sets were on his serves. He finished the match with 3 aces.
Photo: FIVB
The Polish team fortunately found an antidote to the lethal LeRoux serve and turned the tables at the final stretch of the match. Poland out-aced France, 11-8, three coming from setter Fabian Drzyzga.
Net defense of both teams were focused on each other’s attacking ace—Ngapeth and Kurek—that’s why, at some point, both players were pulled out of the court to add something new to the mix. Nicholas LeGoff denied 6 Polish attacks while Buszek made 4 of his own.
Photo: FIVB
After the day off, Poland will face hosts Japan while France will try to bounce back in their match against the undefeated Iranian team.
China brings Great Wall to Japan
Photo: FIVB
Yesterday, China bowed down to France in 4 sets despite doubling their blocking effort (16-8). This time, the Chinese team made sure their efforts won’t be put to waste as they crushed hosts Japan in the only straight-sets match in Day 2, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23. China’s wall was rock solid, now tripling their opponent’s stuff blocks, 14-3.
The home crowd, this time, could not stop the resurgence of the Chinese squad. Despite the young Japanese star Yuki Ishikawa and Asian Championship MVP Kunihiro Shimizu’s gallant efforts, China’s wall is simply impenetrable. Setter Hideomi Fokatsu tried to speed up their already-fast offense in the latter sets but the Chinese team showed their adjustment is much faster.
Japan threatened to extend the match in the 3rd set but a pile of errors plagued them and back-to-back stuff blocks from China sealed the deal.
Photo: FIVB
Qingyao Dai was the star with 12 points (10 attacks, 2 blocks) but Chen Zhang and Longhai Chen, who finished the match 8 and 7 points respectively, were the main culprits as they tallied 4 stuff blocks apiece. It was Chen who actually finished the match with a denial on Ishikawa’s attack.
Shimizu and Ishikawa, as mentioned, were the lone bright spots for the host team. Shimizu scored 16 markers off 14 attacks, a block, and an ace, while Ishikawa made a 14-point performance.
Photo: FIVB
Aside from the blockers planted on their attackers, errors were surprisingly just too much for Japan as they committed 8 more unforced errors than China (23-18).
Photo: FIVB
China is looking to start a streak as they face Venezuela on Wednesday while Japan will try to end Poland’s winning streak.
Missed all the action? Full match replays are available on FIVB’s official YouTube channel. Click here.
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Ranking zawodników w LŚ:
Najlepiej punktujący:
1. Stephen Boyer (Francja, 106 pkt)
2. Cweran Sokołow (Bułgaria, 100)
3. Bram Van Den Dries (Belgia, 98)
4. Dawid Konarski (Polska, 95)
...
20. Mateusz Bieniek (Polska, 60)
23. Michał Kubiak (Polska, 57)
42. Bartosz Kurek (Polska, 44)
48. Bartłomiej Lemański (Polska, 41)
Najlepiej atakujący:
1. Julien Lyneel (Francja, 58,89%)
2. Evandro Guerra (Brazylia, 57,27%)
3. Marko Ivović (Serbia, 54,21%)
...
12. Michał Kubiak (Polska, 49,97%)
18. Dawid Konarski (Polska, 46,24%)
Najlepiej blokujący:
1. Nikołaj Nikołow (Bułgaria, 0,86 pkt/set)
2. Ilja Własow (Rosja, 0,79)
3. Srećko Lisinac (Serbia, 0,67)
...
12. Dawid Konarski (Polska, 0,54)
13. Bartłomiej Lemański (Polska, 0,54)
18. Mateusz Bieniek (Polska, 0,46)
Najlepiej zagrywający:
1. Stephen Boyer (Francja, 0,55 pkt/set)
2. Ricardo Lucarelli (Brazylia, 0,52)
3. Dimitrij Wołkow (Rosja, 0,42)
...
16. Bartłomiej Lemański (Polska, 0,31)
28. Michał Kubiak (Polska, 0,19)
Najlepiej broniący:
1. Cameron Bann Blair (Kanada, 2,45 obron/set)
2. Paweł Zatorski (Polska, 1,85)
3. Milad Ebadipour (Iran, 1,60)
...
18. Michał Kubiak (Polska, 1,04)
22. Dawid Konarski (Polska, 0,92)
40. Bartosz Kurek (Polska, 0,58)
50. Mateusz Bieniek (Polska, 0,50)
Najlepiej przyjmujący:
1. Thales Hoss (Brazylia, 62,28%)
2. Mauricio Borges Almeida (Brazylia, 59,76%)
3. John Gordon Perrin (Kanada, 51,26%)
...
6. Paweł Zatorski (Polska, 42,15%)
Bartosz Kurek (Polska, 48,60%)
Michał Kubiak (Polska, 50%)
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