Osaka, Japan, September 17, 2015 - USA captain David Lee knew Iran would give his side a challenge after they claimed victory on Thursday.
USA coach John Speraw: We knew what a challenging match this was going to be. We have played them many times in the last two years. Each match had a political backdrop because of the situation between our two countries, which is not good. On the court politics don't matter. The players like and respect each other. We knew they would compete with passion and energy. Some of our less experience players showed poise tonight. Iran is skilled at attacking. They see the lock well and attack quickly and with decisiveness.
Iran coach Slobodan Kovac: They played great volleyball like in the entire tournament. We played well today. I hope the next four matches we can play like tonight. We have had problems with our counterattack. We must try to change this and be better.
USA captain David Lee: We started off slow in the first set. We were not great in service reception. We knew they would test us. We served better at the first set and that is why we pulled off the victory today. Mousavi is tough to stop. I'm not sure we have figured out how to stop him.
USA player Matthew Anderson: Iran is a good team. They stretched our ability. They challenged us. The third set was good. We gots points at the end. The fourth set was even tougher. Fortunately we came out on top. When they pass the ball they are tough to stop. Marouflakrani is a great player.
Iran captain Mir Saeid Marouflakrani: This was a tough match. It was our best start in the competition. The USA is a high-level team.They served strongly. USA played without mistakes in attack. Tough to play against tat. We received well but could not make points on high balls.