Iran breaks Serbia’s FIVB World League winning streak

Iranian volleyball players came from behind Friday to defeat Serbia at the FIVB World League 2016, inflicting the European team's first loss of the games and shattering any illusions of grandeur they may have had.

The national Iranian men’s volleyball team had Milad Ebadipour, Adel Gholami, Mohammad Javad Manavinejad, captain Saeed Marouf, Seyed Shahram Mahmoudi, Mohammad Mousavi and Mehdi Maradi in its starting lineup under the tutelage of Argentine coach Raul Lozano.

Serbia's winning streak at the tournament was broken. The final score was 3-2 (18-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, and 16-14).

The Pool I1 match was played at the Azadi Sports Complex, western Tehran.

Twenty-five-year-old Marko Ivović of Serbia stood on the serve to start the match, and his teammate Srećko Lisinaćb earned the first point of the match.

Shortly afterward, Ebadipour's spike leveled the score at 2-2. Both teams then went through ups and downs in their attempts to accumulate points. A spike by Ivović led Serbia 8-5 at the first technical timeout.

Anytime Serbian volleyball players sought to assert their dominance over the match, they were confronted by Iranian counterparts.

In the 26th minute, Hamzeh Zarini’s block went out and Serbia won the first set 25-18.

The Serbs maintained their composure after the break, and raced out to an 8-5 lead at the first technical timeout of the second set.

In the 45th minute, Mojtaba Mirzajanpour of Iran blocked Serbia’s spike and drew the score level 13. The European side won the second set 25-22 at last.

The Persians, having lost two consecutive sets and fearing a straight-set defeat against Serbia, began the third set energetically. They explored avenues to notch up points as both sides went into the first technical time-out 8-7.

The Iranians then sought to extend the deficit, but Serbians were tailing them point by point. Iran was 16-13 ahead at the second technical time-out. The Iranian team ultimately won the set 28-26.

Iranian volleyball players presented good serves and attacks in the fourth set, and surged ahead to close the period at 25-23.

The final set turned to be a close contest as neither side seemed to be capitulating and the game continued on a point-by-point basis. Iranians finally grabbed the decider 16-14.

“Before anything I should say tonight was a special one in my life and the fans at the hall created a fantastic atmosphere with their positive participation. I am satisfied with my players, who came back to the match after two bad sets and controlled the game.

“Congratulations to my friend Nikola Grbic for this fantastic team following the right path and keeping it in shape and I am sorry Serbia did not qualify to the Olympic due to the formula of the qualification. About my team, I should say that I am very happy about this win and the qualification to Rio they have recently gained,” Lozano said after the match.

Marouf, Iran’s captain, said, “Serbia was the only undefeated team in Group 1 of the World League this year. We knew the match would be very difficult. I expected to begin the match very evenly, but Serbia opened the match better and dominated the first two sets and we were not able to perform our plans.

But I am happy with the substitutions we made, which helped our team get the results and we came back to the game in the third set. We showed the real power of Iran in the third and fourth sets. The fifth set was so close and I think the players’ individual skill helped us in the crucial moments of the game.”

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