Highlights July 5

Mexicali. Round Robin. Places 17-20.

Tunisia d Algeria 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19)

Tunisia beat Algeria 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19). Despite, Algeria recovered in the third set, Tunisia showed a solid performance in the fourth and combined a good blocking and serving strategy. Tunisian captain Wael Mrika closed with 13 points, followed by Ayman Soltani, who registered 12, while Wassim Ben Tara scored 10. Serve for Tunisia with Ahmed Belmabrouk, who had 5 aces. For Algeria Sadem Haddad finished with 11 points and Sofiano Bouyoucef scored 10.

Japan d Rwanda 3-0 (25-10, 25-20, 25-14)

Yuki Ishikawa scored 20 points in Japan's victory over Rwanda. Japan won in straight sets (25-10, 25-20, 25-14) and showed a good serve dominance with 9 aces (3 by Taishi Onodera and 3 by Eiro Motoki) against none by Rwanda.

Onodera was also the second best scorer for the Japanese team with 12 points, while Rwanda had Samuel Niyogisubizo as their leader in the stats with the same digits.  Japan also had very good defensive performance and their setting game was very effective with middle blocker Yuki Suzuki and libero Yano Rikiya, as well as Motoki, who assembled 15 of the 25 successful plays to guarantee an effective attack for the Asian team.

Classification 9-16

Egypt d Mexico 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-18, 29-27)

Egypt edged Mexico in the fourth set to win 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-18, 29-27). Mohamed Shehabeldeen scored 22 points for Egypt including 2 aces and 3 blocks to be the best. Ewais Hisham scored 15 while Eid Abouelsoud and Mohamed Hassan tallied 11 apiece.

Egyptian captain Ahmed Saleh also registered double digit, with a total of 10 points. Enrique Ugalde was Mexico's top scorer with 18 points. Ivan Molano scored 12 and captain Mauricio Lopez 10. Egyptians will match the winner between USA and Belgium, while Mexico will play against the loser of the same match.

Belgium d USA 3-1 (23-25, 25-27, 25-27, 25-26)

Belgium beat USA 3-1 (23-25, 25-27, 25-27, 25-26) in the 9-16 classification round with a solid work by Stuer Lowie. Lowie scored 18 points for the Belgian team while Arno Van De Velde finished with 13. Both players also contributed with a good serving work. Van De Velde registered 4 aces and Lowie 3.

Also for Belgium, Gilles Vandecaveye recorded 12 and Robbe Vandeweywe 11. On the American side Colby Harriman totalized 14 points and Connor Lammey 6, while Matthew Walsh, Jr., finished with only 4 units after playing three sets.

Service was determinant for Belgium with nine attempts that finished in aces. USA converted only three. The Americans will match Mexico, while Belgium will play against Egypt on Saturday at Mexicali State Auditorium.

Finland d Chile 3-1 (25-23, 12-25, 25-29, 25-23)

Finland grabbed a victory against Chile 3-1 (25-23, 12-25, 25-29, 25-23). Miro Määttänen scored 22 points (including 2 aces and 2 blocks) for Finland in a match that was near the tiebreaker, when Chile tried to play at their best. However the Finnish team worked hard with their block to define the result.

Lauri Jylhä concluded with 12 points andKarri Kutinlahti with 11, including 6 blocks. On the Chilean side, Dusan Bonacic registered a total of 17 points and Marcelo Concha 14. Simon Guerra also converted double digits with 13 points, while Rafael Albornoz, 11 points and Christopher Baeza closed with 10.

Korea d Turkey 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-22)

Korea beat Turkey in straight sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-22) in the last match played on Friday in the Classification Round for places 9-16.

Ham Hyeongjin and Han Sungjeong were the top scorers for the Korean team, with 16 and 11 points respectively.  For Turkey, captain Yigit Gulmezoglu finished with 14 points while Yasin Aydin scored 10. First and third set were so tight and even the Turkish were so close when tied 21-21. Turkey played with resilience against the Korean squad that had a very good serve with 7 team aces and same number of successful block attempts, against 4 and 5 of their rivals.