Aaron Russell scored 13 points in his second World League appearance, helping USA to a 3-1 win against Iran.
Los Angeles, California, USA, May 31, 2015 - USA beat Iran 3-1 (25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 25-20) in their Pool B match on Sunday, with Matt Anderson scoring a game-high 19 points, ably supported by Murphy Troy (16) and Aaron Russell (13).
After making his FIVB World League debut the previous night, Russell again took the floor as a starter for USA and his impact was telling. With consecutive kills from Russell and Anderson, USA overturned a 2-0 early deficit and after a back-row attack from the second-gamer, USA led 13-9. Anderson and Max Holt were prominent with six points each in the opening set, but it was Russell who wrapped it up, again nailing a kill from the back row to give USA a 25-16 set victory.
The home side converted 15 of 20 spikes in the opening set and it took until the 37th minute of the match for USA to make a hitting error, with Troy’s attack into the net giving Iran an 8-7 lead at the TTO. USA were soon back in the lead though and with a Russell ace, a Troy block and an unopposed Anderson kill, the hosts held an 11-8 advantage. From their they pulled away and with some impressive blocking, they took the set 25-16 with the help of a 7-1 block advantage.
An ace from Amir Ghafour stretched Iran’s third-set lead to 9-4, but Russell stopped the impressive run with a deep middle kill. The visitors were intent on pushing the 2014 World League champions, as they did the evening before, and they worked their way to a 16-10 lead at the TTO. Despite a charge from USA, Iran’s buffer was significant enough and Ghafour scored his ninth point of the match to give them a 25-20 third-set win.
The USA were back to their attacking best in the fourth set and after consecutive aces from Micah Christenson, they led 18-13. Anderson extended the lead the 20-14 and Troy’s cross-court winner pushed it further to 22-16, before, fittingly, USA's 12th block of the night, this time a triple, confirmed the set 25-20 and the match 3-1 (25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 25-20).
Read the text commentary of the game
here.