Tokyo, Japan, September 23, 2015 –
Iran inflicted a strong presence at the net in their straight sets win win against Egypt (25-18, 25-11, 25-23) in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi led by his post at the middle with 12 points to emerge as the Most Impressive Player. Mojtaba Mirzajanpour likewise charted 12 points.
The first set defined a battle between teams known for hard hits and heavy serves. Iran clearly demonstrated this pattern.
Mirzajanpour and Shahram Mahmoudi operated from the flanks while Mousavi instilled his presence at the net.
Egypt retaliated through the attacks of their captain Ahmed Abdelhay and hitter Badawy Mohamed Moneim but Iran proved quicker with their blocking reflexes.
Team Iran pulled away with 25-18 in the opening set.
By the second set, Iran continued to prove how clever they were in the blocking department. Mahmoudi and Mousavi prevailed in their crafty ways to read the trajectory of attacks, all at lightning speed.
Egypt needed to remember that they could utilise this very same skill to their favour. Instead, they found themselves lagging in defence, both by the net and on the floor.
Iran stormed into a 25-11 finish in the second set, silencing the opposition in nearly all departments.
Egypt middleman Abd Elhalim Mohamed Abou cracked back-to-back kills to spark things their way in the third set. They took an 8-5 edge at the first technical timeout.
Service and attack errors soon ran up on the Egyptian side. Abdelhay was not getting set up for the solid attacks he is famed for.
Iran relaxed into a 16-13 lead by the second technical timeout, but Egypt tried to put up a challenge.
Moneim made sure that Egypt stood a fighting chance with his excellent effort from the wing.
Iran capitalised on their advantage in blocking once more to reach 25-23 at the end of the third set.