{"id":83658,"date":"2022-07-09T08:31:38","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T08:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asianvolleyball.net\/new\/?p=83658"},"modified":"2022-07-09T08:31:38","modified_gmt":"2022-07-09T08:31:38","slug":"iran-one-step-closer-to-vnl-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asianvolleyball.net\/new\/iran-one-step-closer-to-vnl-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"IRAN ONE STEP CLOSER TO VNL FINALS"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">A straight-set victory against direct rivals Slovenia moves the Asians back up to eighth place<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s1\">Esmaeilnezhad&#8217;s 14 points were pivotal to the Iranian triumph<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Iran didn\u2019t stay outside the qualification zone for the Volleyball Nations League 2022 Finals for too long. One day after seeing Slovenia take the eighth place in the standings from them, the reigning Asian champions had the chance to return to their previous spot in a match against their European rivals in Gdansk, Poland, and took it back without hesitation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">With opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad leading the way with 14 points, the Iranians swept (26-24, 25-14, 25-21) Slovenia to retake the eighth place in the standings and get closer to making the trip to Bologna, Italy, between July 20-24 to compete in the VNL Finals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YJjfHIDYKfw\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/YJjfHIDYKfw<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">With the victory, Iran now have six wins and 17 points. They are still threatened by Slovenia (five wins, 15 points) and Serbia (four wins, 11 points) and will have the chance to book their tickets to Bologna when they play the Serbians on Saturday, at 17.00 local time (15.00 GMT), in their final match in the Preliminary Phase.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI\u2019d like to congratulate our entire team,\u201d Iranian captain and outside hitter Milad Ebadipour said after the match. \u201cIt was a really important match for us, we knew it would be a key game if we wanted to qualify for the Finals because both teams were so close in the standings. We expected a really tough match and there was a little emotion at the end, but we managed it well. Our younger players grew a lot between the start of the VNL and now and they\u2019re becoming amazing players. But it\u2019s not over yet and we need to keep that same level in our last match.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Esmaeilnezhad\u2019s production of 14 points was built with 11 kills and three aces. He also scored one of the most pivotal points in the match to end the first set 26-24 by making use of the Slovenian block in a play that influenced the outcome of the match.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ebadipour and fellow outside hitter Amirhossein Esfandiar also had double-digit performances for the winners, with the captain tallying 12 points (ten kills, one block, one ace) and his 23-year-old teammate adding another ten (eight kills, one block, one ace).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The most productive Slovenian player on the court was outside hitter Klemen Cebulj, who had 11 points (ten kills, one block) and was the only player on his team to score ten points or more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In order to qualify for the Finals, Slovenia will need to defeat reigning world champions Poland on Sunday in their last Preliminary Phase match and hope either the Netherlands lose both of their remaining matches or that Iran don\u2019t defeat Serbia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Related links of AVC<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s3\">AVC Website: click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asianvolleyball.net\/\"><span class=\"s4\">www.asianvolleyball.net<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s3\">AVC Facebook: click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AsianVolleyballConfederation\"><span class=\"s5\">www.Facebook.com\/AsianVolleyballConfederation<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s3\">AVC Twitter: click: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/AsianVolleyball\"><span class=\"s4\">www.twitter.com\/AsianVolleyball<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s3\">AVC Instagram: click: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/avcvolley\/?hl=en\"><span class=\"s4\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/avcvolley\/?hl=en<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">AVC Youtube: click: Asian Volleyball Confederation<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\">AVC WeChat: Asian Volleyball Confederation<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A straight-set victory against direct rivals Slovenia moves the Asians back up to eighth place Esmaeilnezhad&#8217;s 14 points were pivotal to the Iranian triumph Iran didn\u2019t stay outside the qualification&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":83659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider","category-volleyball-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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