Iran's First Home Defeat in the 2015 World Volleyball League

In the continuation of the 2015 World Volleyball League, the Iranian national team lost to Poland with a score of 1-3, marking its first home defeat. Iran had won the first match 2-3, but with this loss in the second match, its chances of advancing to the final stage of the competition became very difficult. On a day when the 12,000-seat Azadi Hall was once again filled with spectators, Iran won the first game 23-25, but losing three consecutive games allowed the Polish team to secure their position in second place in the group with seven wins and 20 points. The United States, with eight wins and 23 points, will definitely be one of the advancing teams, and the competition for selecting another team will continue between two representatives from Europe and Asia. Iran remained in third place with five wins and 15 points, and to advance, they must win both remaining matches against Russia, while Poland must not gain any points from the United States. This scenario seems unlikely given the home advantage of the Polish and the atmosphere in their stadiums. Iran started the match with the lineup of Shahram Mahmoudi, Milad Ebadipour, Saeed Marouf, Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, Adel Gholami, and Mojtaba Mirzajanpour. Mehdi Marandi was also a libero. The second set, with the brilliance of Kubiak and Jakub Jarosz, who had also shone in the first match, ended 20-25 in favor of Poland. This result was repeated in the third set. Pawel Zatorski, the Polish libero, clearly performed better than his Iranian counterpart. Rafal Buszek, Mateusz Bieniek, Mateusz Mika, Fabian Drzyzga in the setter role, and Piotr Nowakowski performed significantly better than in the first match, contributing all three crucial points to their team. French coach Stephane Antiga, through repeated reading of the game, led his team to a 19-25 victory in the fourth set. Jarosz scored 22 points, becoming the top scorer of the match, converting 19 spikes into points, along with two points in defense and one point in service. On the other hand, Shahram Mahmoudi, with 12 points from his spikes, had a better performance than other Iranian players. Hamzeh Zarini entered the Iranian team for the first time in this year's World League during the third set, but his presence could not compensate for the lost points. Another tactic by Kovač for victory in this match was the continuous substitution of liberos. During Poland's service, Marandi was on the court, and during their own service, Alizadeh played. These two teams had played twice in Poland in the first round, where Poland achieved two victories, 1-3 and 2-3. Iran recorded its first points in this year's World League by winning two games in Poland. Poland won the gold medal in last year's World Championship and has emerged this year as a serious contender for the World League title. Adel Gholami said after the match: 'I don't know if we were up to expectations or not. The Poles played more strategically. They are the world champions and had a good performance. Some days we win, and some days we lose. Poland had an exceptional night.'