Hiroshima, Japan, September 8, 2015 - Japan coach Masashi Nambu said his team must improve their serve reception if they want a good performance in the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup 2015 after they defeated Egypt in five sets on Tuesday.
Japan coach Masashi Nambu: The sets we won and lost today, the difference in side attack was 70 percent when we won and 54 percent when we lost. We lost points on serves. Yanagida was nervous at the start. We made some mistakes and their serves gained pace in the second set. The Shimizu/Fukatsu combination was not working well today and this affected Shimizu's spike. If it had been working well I don' think we would have required a fifth set. Our upcoming opponents will be serving stronger, so we will have to adjust to this.
Egypt coach Nehad Shehata: Some of our players were worried at the start and that affected their skills. We had full power in the second set, but some of our players did not have full power in the match. We made mistakes in serving, blocking and defense reception. I took No. 4 (Abdelhay) out in the final set because he wasn't scoring and began yelling at the other players. I wanted to get fresh players in. Japan had a good defense and block. We had some good serves but have to play better. No. 8 (Ishikawa) was a surprise for us. It was our first time to see him. I think he will be a good player in the future.
Japan captain Kunihiro Shimizu: In the first set we had good serves and did well. When we didn't have them, we lost. If we correct this it will be much easier for us.
Japan player Yuta Yoneyama: We lost points in service reception. If we had rallies they made mistakes first. We were able to endure to the end and win.
Japan player Yuki Ishikawa: It was a tough five-set match. It is good we could win in the end. We can reduce our mistakes. I was not nervous and the audience gave me warm support which was very nice.
Egypt captain Ahmed Abdelhay: They defend well and made good receptions. They limited their mistakes and capitalized on ours. We have to play better than today in the next matches. Ishikawa played excellent. He was the key person for Japan to get the win. I think he has a good future.