Volleyball Nations League:
Iran to begin decisive Week 3 with Polish test
Iran will kick off a decisive third week of action at the Volleyball Nations League today when taking on Poland in Gdansk.
Iran is 10th in the 18-team table of the preliminary phase with a 4-4 record, while the European powerhouse is second to Brazil, thanks to six wins in eighth outings.
The top seven of the preliminaries will join host China at the VNL Finals – starting with the quarterfinals in Ningbo on July 30.
Olsztyn on Saturday, with the home side coming out victorious in straight sets (26-24, 25-20, 25-21) before Iran won an additional fourth set 25-20.
The good news for Iran head coach Roberto Piazza is the return of Morteza Sharifi for team selection, after the prolific outside-hitter, who has chipped in 67 points in the preliminaries, missed the final two games of the second week against Germany and the Netherlands with an ankle injury.
A second game in Week 3 for Iran will come against China on Thursday, followed by an encounter against Olympic champion France on Saturday.
Iran will hope to be in contention for a top-seven finish in the table and a place in the VNL Finals when squaring off against Bulgaria in the final round of the preliminaries on Sunday.
“We’ll have to prepare differently for each game, as our first game against Poland will be played at 8:00 p.m. and the second one will come at 4:30 p.m. the following day – leaving us with little recovery time between the two games.
“So, we’ll need to completely reset our mindset. We’ll have one day to rest, then play again at 8:30 p.m. against France before the final match at 5:00 p.m. against Bulgaria the next day.
“Overall, we have a tough week ahead. We know exactly what we want. Our fate is in our hands – if we want it, we can achieve it. But we need to take it day by day, not think about the whole week at once. So, our first challenge is the match against Poland,” Piazza said.
Looking to progress to the Finals for the first time since 2022, Iran got off to a slow start in the competition under the new Italian coach, suffering successive defeats against Brazil (3-0), USA (3-2), and Slovenia (3-2), before salvaging a five-set win against Ukraine in the final Week 1 game in Rio de Janeiro.
The Asian powerhouse, however, delivered much-improved displays in the second week of action, defeating Serbia in four sets in Belgrade, before claiming victories against Argentina (3-1) and the Netherlands (3-2) either side of a 3-1 loss to Germany.