RI grabs second win at U-185 VB Championship<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesian men's volleyball team grabbed its second victory
\nafter defeating Russia 3-2 at the U-185 World Volleyball
\nChampionship match held here at the Senayan Indoor Stadium on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
The team previously won 3-0 over Chinese Taipei on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
With the recent victory, Indonesia is currently leading among
\nthe five countries -- Myanmar, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Russia and
\nIndonesia -- participating in the event, since the rest of the
\nteams share one victory each.<\/p>\n
Russia, which lost 0-3 to Myanmar on Wednesday's match, had
\nlearned its mistakes from the previous match, resulting in a
\nfirst set victory over Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, Indonesia's top players Robby Meliala and Aries
\nArizqon could not do much to score over the Russians during the
\nfirst set as blockers Andrey Bobkov and Alexander Alishin were
\neffective in barricading the Russian court from Indonesian
\nattacks.<\/p>\n
With the team's top spiker Alexandre Spiridonov, Russia
\nstunned Indonesia by taking the first set 26-24.<\/p>\n
However, Indonesian players bounced back in the second set and
\ntook a 4-1 lead but the Russians were not giving up easily.<\/p>\n
Russia's Dmitri Mikhailov and Spiridonov kept struggling to
\nscore points but only managed to collect 17 points as Indonesia
\nquickly closed the second set with 25-17 victory.<\/p>\n
In the third set, Indonesian players started to find their
\nrhythm and managed to deliver good attacks from the back line.
\nIndonesia wrapped up the game by winning 25-12.<\/p>\n
Victory was so near for the Indonesians as they managed to
\ntake a 16-13 lead in the fourth set, but they failed to close the
\ngame as most of the players, including Johan Rahmadi and Aries
\nArizqon made a lot of unforced errors. Russia won 26-24.<\/p>\n
In the fifth set both teams struggled hard, scoring each
\npoints alternately.<\/p>\n
However, this time it was Russian players who often conducted
\nunforced errors by sending the ball out of the court or bouncing
\nit back to the net, handing the 15-12 victory to the Indonesians.<\/p>\n
Talking about the team's second defeats in the competition,
\nassistant coach Ilya Volodarskiy said that he admitted that
\nIndonesian team was stronger and better compared to his team.<\/p>\n
"Your team is one of the strongest in this competition,"
\nVolodarskiy told reporters.<\/p>\n
He added that although his team played better compared to its
\nprevious match against Myanmar, his players still conducted a lot
\nof unforced errors throughout the match.<\/p>\n
"Indonesian player number seven (Robby Meliala) was our
\nbiggest problem," team captain Gleb Kashitsyn added.<\/p>\n
"We've seen him playing against Chinese Taipei from Wednesday
\nand we already knew he is a great player. He is probably the best
\nplayer in this competition," Volodarskiy said.<\/p>\n
Preparing for the next match against Japan on Friday,
\nVolodarskiy said that he would study video recordings from his
\nteam's previous matches to seek a better strategy.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, assistant coach of the Indonesian team Yunyun
\nYudiana blamed his players for underestimating the Russians.<\/p>\n
"I know that some of players felt that they could beat Russia
\neasily after Russia lost 0-3 to Myanmar yesterday.<\/p>\n
"When Russia won the first set, our players were shocked ...,"
\nYunyun said. He added, "Our defense was still weak ... we didn't
\nhave good counterattacks."<\/p>\n
"We are lucky to have a one day rest before playing against
\nMyanmar on Saturday. We will try our best to emerge as a winner
\nin this competition," Yunyun added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-grabs-second-win-at-u-185-vb-championship-1447893297",
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