HOW about that for an upset?
Iran sent shockwaves in a seismic five-set breakthrough over USA, 26-28, 25-23, 25-18, 28-26, 15-13, for its first victory in the 2024 Volleyball Men’s Nations League (VNL) Manila leg on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Prior to their debut outing in the Philippines, Iran lost all eight of its preliminary round matches and was dead-last in the 16-team field.
READ VNL fan favorites Ran, Yuki admit Japan 'not perfect'
But even if both Olympic and quarterfinals berths are no longer within reach, the Asian side pulled off the unthinkable over the reigning VNL bronze medalists through Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh’s 23 points built on 22 attacks and one ace.
“We had tough weeks in the past and we lost eight games from eight. This is the most difficult team to play in the third week, to start (the week) against USA, one of the biggest teams in the world,” said Iran captain Milad Ebadipour who had a 20-piece of his own.
“I think we have to start to win games and today was our first game in the third week. I’m so happy to win against the biggest team like USA,” he added.
The fan-favorite Americans’ first act in Manila was spoiled despite star spiker TJ Defalco’s rousing 33-point performance on 30 attacks, two blocks and one ace.
Ace hitters Matt Anderson (13 points) and Jordan Ewert (10 points) aided Defalco’s explosive scoring exploits to no avail.
Not only was their VNL playoff bid jeopardized in 12th place at 3-6 (win-loss) but they also dipped a spot in the FIVB World Rankings from fifth to sixth albeit already Olympic-bound.
Iran, meanwhile, jumped two places from 17th to 15th.
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