Volleyball Nations League:
Slovenia setback sums up disappointing Week 1 for Iran
Iran fell to a straight-set defeat (25-19, 25-23, 25-23) against Slovenia on the final day of Week 1 of the Volleyball Nations League in Nagoya, Japan.
Outside hitter Mozic Rok chipped in a game-high 25 points for the European side, with skipper Urnaut Tine adding 13 in a match that saw Slovenia register a remarkable 10 aces.
Opposite spiker Ali Hajipour topped the scoring for Iran with 15 points, followed by Morteza Sharifi, who had seven points, while Amirhossein Esfandiar and Amin Esmaeilnejad finished on a below-par six and five points respectively.
Sunday’s defeat was a third in four outings for Behrouz Ataei’s men, who opened their campaign with a 3-0 loss to Japan and then surrendered a two-set lead to suffer a second setback against European heavyweight Poland, before coming from behind to beat China in four sets on Saturday.
“We had a shaky start but managed to get back in the game, though we were still poor in reception in the first two sets. We failed to capitalize on our lead in certain spells of the match,” said Iranian head coach Ataei, whose men will have to deliver a much improved performance in the remainder of the preliminary round if they are to book a place in the VNL Finals for a second successive year.
“Slovenia is among the decent teams at this year’s event. They made fewer mistakes today and deserved the victory,” added Ataei.
Slovenia stunned Serbia and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist France in four sets either side of a straight-set defeat against Bulgaria.
Iran will resume action in Rotterdam for Week 2 of the competition with a game against Germany on June 20, before taking on Italy, USA, and the Netherlands.
The Asian powerhouse will visit Anaheim, California, in the United States to play France, Bulgaria, Argentina, and Cuba in the final round of the preliminary-round fixtures.
Top seven of the 16-team table will join host Poland in the Finals, starting July 19 in Gdansk.