Grand Champions Cup/Speraw: Iran played great volleyball; we struggled to score points

Nagoya, Japan, September 13, 2017 – John Speraw, the head coach of USA said that Iran played great volleyball from that point on offensively and we struggled to score points. Iran played in their full potential to win 3-2 against USA in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Grand Champions Cup on Wednesday.
USA coach John Speraw: We came out and played some really great volleyball in the first two sets, particularly passing the ball. We just played great. I think we will look back on a period of about two minutes in the third set when we were up and there was a little bit of lack of focus. In that moment, Iran took advantage and made some good plays, particularly (Amir) Ghafour. We didn’t play bad volleyball from that point; we just didn’t score any points. Our offence continued to be OK, but not as good as earlier. But Iran played great volleyball from that point on offensively and we struggled to score points.
USA captain David Smith: I think we came out well with a continuation from last night. In the third set, Iran made some substitutions and we couldn’t match them tactically and emotionally. All credit to them for staying in the match. It’s something we have to learn to do better.

USA player Matt Anderson: We came out with pretty high energy and executed our game plan. They changed some players, forcing us to adapt; unfortunately, we weren’t able to. At that point, they started to play really aggressively and we didn’t match them. They put pressure on us and we didn’t step up when we needed to.