VNL 2021: All results of June 11

Germany stunned Iran in five sets (25:23, 20:25, 19:25, 25:19, 13:15) for their fourth win in nine games in Day 9 at the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League. The winner displayed strong performance and stunned Iran thanks also to Linus Weber (15 points) and Tobias Krick (4 blocks). Saber Kazemi was on a high level on the other side of the net, scoring 27 points.

Jan Zimmermann (Germany): “It was a tough battle. In the first set we struggled a bit, but we found our rhythm in the end. It was a hard battle, they were pushing us in the fourth and last set again. And we had to stay a little bit calm at these moments. And pushed back against them, but we are happy that we won this important match and points for us. We had two difficult games this week, yesterday we played really bad against USA – two sets were really bad, so it was important for us to come back today and take some points. It was nice to have some atmosphere and some loudness here. Sometimes it’s difficult to stay in the game when you don’t hear anybody, so it was a nice change. Marouf is a really good setter and it’s great to play against players like him, so I was happy that I could play against setters like him. I want to get there, that’s why I’m here.”

Slovenia scored an epic victory against defending champions of Russia. It was truly a remarkable victory of the side from the Balkans given that, less than 24 hours ago, it outplayed France in an exhausting five-setter and after a turnaround. Slovenia staged another turnaround, this time not from 0-2 but from 1-2 in sets, and maintained pretty good chances of qualifying for the semifinals. Klemen Čebulj shone in the 3-2 (19:25, 25:23, 22:25, 25:20, 15:8) win with 32 points.

Igor Kobzar (RUS): “Like I said yesterday, we started to play better, even today. We had more confidence during this match, but we lost even if we played a good game. Slovenia were better. Their leader Cebulj was playing very well and he made a difference today.”

Jan Kozamernik (SLO): “It was an amazing match. We had a lot of fun, especially after the first set when we were really in trouble. I think we brought in energy and we showed our character, the same way we did playing against Poland. And we really proved that it’s not easy to play against us. We are a tough opponent and I hope that we will keep this concentration and game for the next matches. Our team was a key to this victory. We were there all together, we never backed down, we were in the centre of the court all together for every point. After every mistake and after every big point. I think this is what keeps us going and I’m really proud – I think we are doing great.”

Argentina claimed their fourth victory in the competition by winning against favorite Japan 3-1 (30:32, 25:16, 25:18, 25:21) led agani by Federico Pereyra on 22 points.

Agustin Loser (ARG): “We are very happy, we played a very good match. I think we served very well and we had a very good performance in block-defence, too. But in general I think that we played really well in all elements. Match by match we are improving our volleyball and we are very glad about it. It’s always difficult to play against Japan, they defend a lot and all rallies are very long, but I think we managed to play very well against them today.”

Tatsunori Otsuka (JPN): “The first set we were able to win, it was to our advantage. We were competing against each other very hard. In the next sets we were not able to show our volleyball and were not very confident in our game and it was a reason why we lost. I play as an opposite and outside hitter, I do a lot in both positions, but today I managed to do more than I had shown before. I want to use this experience for the future and next games, because I want to be even better.”

Bulgaria bagged their second victory at the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League in a five-setter against the Netherlands who are still in search of their own second win. 2-3 was the final result, partially 18:25, 25:18, 25:17, 22:25, 13:15. Even though it had to deal with the powerful display of Nimir Abdel-Aziz (29 points, including 4 aces), Bulgaria managed to break its own losing streak of six matches and extend the one of the Netherlands to four games. Bulgarian teen sensation Denis Karyagin led his team to a win with 15 points.

Nimir Abdel-Aziz (The Netherlands): “What was missing? Two points. We were leading 2-1 and in the fourth set we started to play like we were a losing side and so we lost the fourth set, and the fifth – it’s a tie-break, so anything can happen. We started not so well in the tie-break and in the end there were these two points that decided the final result.”

Asparuh Asparuhov (Bulgaria): “It was a very tough match for us. I’m very happy for our team, because we fought until the end and I am happy because we managed to find our game – we had many winning points in every element. I am also very happy about my teammate Denis Karyagin, he was very concentrated and very motivated, he was an important player of our team, I think without him we would not have achieved this win. I am very glad about our team’s efforts.”

Italy secured their fourth victory at the 2021 FIVB Volleyball League with a resounding three sets over Australia who are still winless after nine matches. Partially it was 20:25, 22:25 and 14:25.

Nehemiah Mote (Australia): “I think two days ago we were very close to gain the first win against Japan. It’s been a tough VNL, guys are putting everything on the court, everything they have, but we haven’t borne the fruits of our efforts. This game was really disappointing. We came in confident, but we lost. The positives we can take out of it is that we do have other opportunities, we can get back to enjoying volleyball, look for what we have to do. In the third set we started to be more energetic, but we need to start with the same energy. We cannot have patches of energy, we need to have some sort of level and try our best to keep up this level during the entire game.”

Riccardo Sbertoli (Italy): “We are very happy about this victory and I’m super proud of this team, because our goal was to win two of these three matches – maybe three of three, but yesterday we lost against Japan, but 3-2 and it was a very good game. Today we wanted to win, because we struggled with many problems at the beginning of the tournament and now we are improving our level game by game. I think our attack was a fundamental element today. We spiked very well in the middle and on the wings too and it was key to our victory.”

Serbia advanced on the road to the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League with a four-set win (23:25, 17:25, 25:19, 25:27) over USA that keeps the Balkan side very much in the chase of the table leaders. Thanks to a dominant game of Uroš Kovačević (22 points) and blocking of Marko Podraščanin (4), this was the third win a row in VNL.

Torey Defalco (USA): “It was a very fierce battle until the end. They are a very good team and they play together for a long time. What we were missing is just a little bit of luck, because that team made a lot of blocks, they are very good players, but they sometimes also have a lot of luck when other players do other stuff, so we were just missing a little bit of luck and that’s all. Coach John [Speraw] has done a really good job about getting everybody different wraps and practicing the stuff with different setters, because we knew that this situation would happen, so we were totally okay with Joshua Tuaniga.”

Marko Ivovic (Serbia): “For us it was an important game especially against the USA. They have a really good team – maybe they are not in a good shape, however a win is a win and we are happy about it. It is an important win on the way to the Final Four. We had tactics, they have many players – today they started with different starting six and a different setter. It’s difficult to play with some tactics when the team plays with more than 12 players every time making some changes. Today it was important to stay calm and to play our game and to wait until they gave us chances. We used these chances and won this game.”

France remain in the chase of the table leaders for a ticket to the Final Four after coming back from a set down to defeat Canada in four. Partially it was 25:20, 21:25, 22:25 and 17:25.

Lucas Van Berkel (Canada): “We came out strong, which was good to see. France are a good team so of course they responded like that and we did not expect anything less. We knew that was going to be a tough battle even after the first set. We had some good plays, but that was it. Both sides were pretty good in defence, they blocked pretty well, but France just made less errors – we made more and I think that was the difference.”

Jean Patry (France): “It was a difficult game at the beginning. We tried a different group to make some changes and to give a chance to other players, but it didn’t work, so we tried to play better after that with some modifications in the lineup, so we put other players on the court and it worked. I’m happy that we won. I think the engagement of the team that we showed on the court was important.”

In a world volleyball classic, which was also a duel of the two top-ranked sides in the VNL 2021, Brazil downed Poland…actually, it wrecked the rival: 3-0 (25:17, 28:26, 25:19). The winners thus recorded the fifth successive victory, improving to 8-1. Poland’s run that consisted of five games came to an end. Wallace de Souza led Brazil with 18 points today.

Michal Kubiak (Poland): “Brazil played better than us. All credit to the team of Brazil and we couldn’t do anything today. A little bit of everything was missing in our game. We were serving good I believe, but we couldn’t defend, we couldn’t block them. They just played a really good game.”

Bruno Rezende (Brazil): “We are in the process of improvement, trying to take another step every day. Of course, playing against one of the strongest teams in the world and winning is something very gratifying and means that we are on the right track. For sure it’s just the beginning. They have a great team with many players and they change lineups, so we tried to prepare for their entire team and I think we did it well. We played with a lot of intensity and good defence – it was something that we wanted to improve and today we played great in this system. Our block-defence was amazing. We will now try to rest a bit and focus on the next games.”

FIVB VNL 2021 – Results & Program

May 28, 2021 –
France – Bulgaria 3-0 (27:25, 25:21, 25:23)
Germany – Australia 3-0 (25:19, 25:18, 25:16)
Japan – Iran 3-0 (25:19, 25:22, 26:24)
Serbia – Slovenia 3-1 (22:25, 25:18, 36:34, 25:18)
The Netherlands – Russia 1-3 (19:25, 22:25, 25:18, 20:25)
USA – Canada 3-0 (25:17, 26:24, 25:20)
Poland – Italy 3-0 (25:19, 25:20, 25:18)
Brazil – Argentina 3-0 (31:29, 26:24, 25:16)
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May 29, 2021 –
Germany – France 2-3 (25:22, 22:25, 25:22, 16:25, 15:17)
Iran – Russia 1-3 (17:25, 25:20, 20:25, 17:25)
The Netherlands – Japan 2-3 (25:22, 25:23, 22:25, 17:25, 8:15)
Australia – Bulgaria 0:3 (21:25, 20:25, 20:25)
Poland – Serbia 3-1 (26:24, 25:19, 21:25, 25:15)
Italy – Slovenia 0-3 (23:25, 19:25, 15:25)
Argentina – Canada 0-3 (17:25, 21:25, 17:25)
USA – Brazil 0-3 (22:25, 23:25, 19:25)
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May 30, 2021 –
Australia – France 1-3 (26:28, 25:20, 14:25, 23:25)
The Netherlands – Iran 0-3 (18:25 23:25, 28:30)
Germany – Bulgaria 3-2 (19:25, 25:21, 22:25, 30:28, 15:11)
Russia – Japan 2-3 (26:28, 28:26, 25:20, 21:25, 14:16)
USA – Argentina 3-1 (23:25, 25:21, 25:15, 25:19)
Canada – Brazil 1-3 (17:25, 20:25, 25:22, 25:27)
Poland – Slovenia 1-3 (22:25, 25:23, 19:25, 23:25)
Serbia – Italy 3-1 (25:23, 22:25, 25:22, 25:18)
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June 3, 2021 –
Germany – Argentina 2-3 (19:25, 25:23, 25:17, 23:25, 13:15)
Iran – Canada 3-1 (22:25, 25:22, 25:22, 25:22)
Japan – Serbia 1-3 (25:18, 23:25, 22:25, 13:25)
Brazil – France 0-3 (37:39, 18:25, 28:30)
The Netherlands – Slovenia 0-3 (18:25, 15:25, 18:25)
Australia – Poland 0-3 (16:25, 10:25, 12:25)
Italy – Bulgaria 3-2 (25:19, 20:25, 25:13, 23:25, 15:12)
Russia – USA 3-1 (25:22, 25:19, 17:25, 25:19)
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June 4, 2021 –
Argentina – Slovenia 0-3 (19:25, 22:25, 18:25)
The Netherlands – Germany 3-2 (25:18, 23:25, 25:20, 23:25, 15:13)
Brazil – Japan 3-0 (25:20, 25:16, 25:20)
Serbia – France 3-2 (22:25, 24:26, 25:22, 25:23, 15:9)
Iran – Italy 3-1 (26:24, 29:27, 21:25, 25:22)
Poland – USA 3-0 (25:17, 28:26, 25:17)
Russia – Australia 3-0 (25:19, 26:24, 25:21)
Canada – Bulgaria 3-0 (28:26, 25:23, 25:16)
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June 5, 2021 –
The Netherlands – Argentina 0-3 (19:25, 20:25, 23:25)
Slovenia – Germany 1-3 (25:19, 20:25, 21:25, 20:25)
France – Japan 3-2 (21:25, 25:22, 24:26, 25:21, 15:11)
Brazil – Serbia 3-1 (23:25, 25:23, 25:15, 25:22)
Russia – Poland 1-3 (25:21, 19:25, 19:25, 14:25)
USA – Australia 3-0 (25:23, 25:20, 25:17)
Bulgaria – Iran 0-3 (20:25, 31:33, 22:25)
Canada – Italy 2-3 (19:25, 21:25, 25:21, 28:26, 11:15)
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June 9, 2021 –
Serbia – Germany 3-1 (19:25, 25:22, 25:18, 25:15)
Japan – Australia 3-1 (25:18, 21:25, 28:26, 26:24)
France – Russia 3-1 (22:25, 25:18, 30:28, 25:19)
Slovenia – Canada 3-0 (25:22, 25:19, 25:22)
Argentina – Italy 0-3 (28:30, 21:25, 20:25)
Iran – USA 3-0 (25:19, 25-23, 25:23)
Poland – Bulgaria 3-0 (25:19, 25:15, 25:12)
The Netherlands – Brazil 0-3 (19:25, 22:25, 25:27)
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June 10, 2021 –
Serbia – Iran 3-2 (21:25, 25:15, 26:28, 25:22, 15:8)
Russia – Canada 3-1 (25:18, 25:18, 23:25, 25:23)
France – Slovenia 2-3 (25:17, 25:19, 23:25, 19:25, 9:15)
Argentina – Australia 3-0 (25:18, 25:19, 25:20)
Germany – USA 0-3 (12:25, 18:25, 27:29)
Bulgaria – Brazil 0-3 (16:25, 22:25, 12:25)
Japan – Italy 3-2 (21:25, 25:22, 22:25, 25:19, 15:9)
Poland – The Netherlands 3-0 (25:14, 25:17, 25:16)
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👉🏼 June 11, 2021 –
Iran – Germany 2-3 (25:23, 20:25, 19:25, 25:19, 13:15)
Slovenia – Russia 3-2 (19:25, 25:23, 22:25, 25:20, 15:8)
Japan – Argentina 1-3 (32:30, 16:25, 18:25, 21:25)
The Netherlands – Bulgaria 2-3 (18:25, 25:18, 25:17, 22:25, 13:15)
Australia – Italy 0-3 (20:25, 22:25, 14:25)
USA – Serbia 1-3 (23:25, 17:25, 25:19, 25:27)
Canada – France 1-3 (25:20, 21:25, 22:25, 17:25)
Poland – Brazil 0-3 (17:25, 26:28, 19:25)

👉🏼 Standings: Brazil 24, Poland 21, France 21, Slovenia 19, Serbia 19, Iran 17, Russia 17, Japan 13, Germany 13, USA 12, Italy 11, Argentina 11, Canada 7, Bulgaria 7, The Netherlands 4, Australia 0.
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June 15, 2021 –
Russia – Serbia 3-1 (25:23, 25:22, 22:25, 25:21)
Iran – Australia 2-3 (23,25, 22:25, 25:23, 25:18, 12:15)
Argentina – Bulgaria 3-1 (25:20, 16:25, 25:18, 25:18)
Japan – Germany 3-0 (25:18, 25:22, 25:20)
Italy – USA 0-3 (15:25, 18:25, 21:25)
Canada – Poland 0-3 (22:25, 23:25, 19:25)
Brazil – Slovenia 3-2 (15:25, 25:22, 19:25, 25:13, 15:12)
The Netherlands – France 3-2 (15:25, 22:25, 28:26, 25:23, 19:17)
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June 16, 2021 –
Argentina – Russia 1-3 (19:25, 23:25, 25:21, 19:25)
Serbia – Bulgaria 3-0 (25:20, 25:17, 25:17)
Slovenia – Australia 3-1 (18:25, 25:18, 25:18, 25:17)
Japan – Poland 0-3 (14:25, 18:25, 19:25)
The Netherlands – Italy 1-3 (19:25, 23:25, 25:23, 21:25)
Canada – Germany 3-0 (25:17, 26:24, 25:21)
USA – France 1-3 (23:25, 25:22, 29:31, 22:25)
Iran – Brazil 1-3 (19:25, 25:23, 19:25, 21:25)
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June 17, 2021 –
Argentina – Serbia 3-0 (27:25, 25:20, 26:24)
Bulgaria – Russia 0-3 (17:25, 22:25, 17:25)
Japan – Canada 0-3 (22:25, 23:25, 18:25)
Australia – Brazil 0-3 (17:25, 22:25, 12:25)
Iran – Slovenia 1-3 (25:14, 20:25, 19:25, 30:32)
The Netherlands – USA 2-3 (25:21, 17:25, 25:23, 15:25, 13:15)
France – Italy 2-3 (19:25, 25:22, 20:25, 25:21, 12:15)
Germany – Poland 0-3 (22:25, 19:25, 20:25)
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June 21, 2021 –
Australia – Serbia 1-3 (16:25, 13:25, 25:19, 15:25)
Japan – Bulgaria 3-0 (25:23, 25:18, 25:14)
France – Iran 3-0 (25:21, 25:21, 25:19)
Canada – The Netherlands 3-0 (25:16, 25:16, 25:19)
Brazil – Italy 3-1 (25:19, 32:30, 22:25, 25:20)
Slovenia – USA 3-2 (28:30, 25:19, 21:25, 28:26, 15:13)
Poland – Argentina 3-0 (25:21, 25:22, 25:18)
Germany – Russia 1-3 (18:25, 18:25, 25:23, 15:25)
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June 22, 2021 –
Canada – Australia 3-0 (25:17, 25:8, 25:20)
Serbia – The Netherlands 3-2 (25:21, 21:25, 25:18, 21:25, 17:15)
Bulgaria – USA 0-3 (19:25, 24:26, 9:25)
Iran – Poland 0-3 (20:25, 20:25, 16:25)
Japan – Slovenia 0-3 (16:25, 16:25, 26:28)
France – Argentina 3-0 (26:24, 25:21, 25:22)
Brazil – Germany 3-0 (25:21, 25:21, 25:23)
Russia – Italy 3-2 (25:21, 16:25, 25:17, 19:25, 15:12)
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June 23, 2021 –
Australia – The Netherlands 0-3 (23:25, 19:25, 19:25)
Canada – Serbia 3-2 (17:25, 21:25, 25:17, 25:20, 17:15)
USA – Japan 3-0 (25:21, 25:23, 25:20)
France – Poland 3-2 (25:22, 21:25, 22:25, 25:20, 15:11)
Iran – Argentina 1-3 (31:33, 23:25, 32:30, 18:25)
Slovenia – Bulgaria 3-0 (25:23, 25:16, 25:18)
Italy – Germany 3-2 (25:12, 24:26, 25:22, 21:25, 15:13)
Brazil – Russia 0-3 (21:25, 26:28, 20:25)
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June 26, 2021 –
Semifinal 1: Brazil – France 3-0 (25:20, 25:18, 25:19)
Semifinal 2: Poland – Slovenia 3-0 (25:22, 25:21, 25:23)
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June 27, 2021 –
Final 3/4: France – Slovenia 3-0 (25:20, 25:18, 25:19)
Final 1/2: Brazil – Poland 3-1 (22:25, 25:23, 25:16, 25:14)
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