The Iran men’s national volleyball team has suffered its second consecutive loss at the third week of the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Volleyball Men's Nations League, going down to the Russian squad.
On Sunday evening, Russia’s Reds Caesar Land triumphed over the Iranian side 3-1 (28-30, 25-23, 27-25 and 25-21) in a Pool 12 fixture staged at the multi-purpose Ufa Arena in the western Russian city of Ufa.
The Iranian volleyball players started the opening set vigorously, and were on fire to exert their dominance. They finally took the set by 30 points to 28.
The hosts, however, stunned the visitors when they gained the lead in the second set. They kept pace despite Iranians’ resistance and efforts to claw back supremacy, and narrowly won the set at 25-23.
The Russian sportsmen cherished their hopes in the third set. They employed an array of attacks, and the set was sealed at 27-25 their way at last.
Russia’s determination to notch up victory remained strong as the match went into the fourth set. It finished the set at 25-21 and celebrated the win.
The 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League kicked off on May 25, and will run through July 8 in 22 host cities.
A total of 16 teams compete in a round-robin format with every core team hosting a pool at least once.
The teams are divided into four pools of four teams at each week and compete five weeks long, with a total of 120 matches.
The top five teams after the preliminary round join the host of the final round to compete in the final round.
The relegation takes in consideration only the 4 challenger teams.
The last-ranked challenger team plays the promotion play-off against the Challenger Cup winners. The winners of the play-off will qualify for the next edition as a challenger team.