Catania hosts Pool G and Pool I in the 2nd round of World Championship. Yesterday´s matches ended with two 3-0 results. Germany won over Puerto Rico, Russia did not give chances to Egypt.

 

Pool G: Puerto Rico – Germany

Germany got to the second round from the 3rd place in Pool F with Puerto Rico (2nd place in Pool C) and Italy (1st in Pool A). Today’s match between Germany and Puerto Rico was close, but the players from Europe were better in attack and block, that portended of their victory. The first set started with good game of both teams. Just on the second technical time-out Germany took the lead and did not give it away till the end of the set (25:22). In the beginning of the second part of the game the German team made many errors that exploited Puerto Rico. Finally their advantage broke Georg Grozer with his great attacks. He led his team to the victory in the second set. The third, and the last, set showed us that Germany was very determinated in drive to succed. They mainained a good rythm and concentration till the last point and won 3-0. Top scorer in Germany was Grozer with 24 points, in Puerto Rico the most efficient player was Soto.

Puerto Rico – Germany 0:3 (22:25, 22:25, 18:25)

Puerto Rico: Rivera J. (11), Rivera V. (4), Perez, Escalante (7), Rodriguez, Soto (17), Rosario (L) and Figueroa (4), Muniz, Matias.
Germany: Andrae (3), Bohme (10), Kromm (9), Gunthor (3), Steuerwald (1), Grozer (24), Tille (L) and Schwarz (6), Tischer (2), Kaliberda, Schops (3), Dunnes.

Pool I: Russia – Egypt

In Pool I there is Russia from 1st place in Pool C, Egypt (2nd place in Pool A) and Spain (3rd in Pool B). The result was rather easy to predict. Egypt won in the 1st round only one match, while Russia got to the 2nd stage with three victories. The game started with some mistakes on the Egyptian side and efficient Russian attacks. Despite some errors made by the Russians, they took the advantage till the 25th point. In the 2nd and 3rd set we saw a Russian demonstration of strength in block and lack of concentration on the Egyptian side. In the second set Russia led 16:7, then 21:9, when Egypt started to reduce the distance. But they lost 17:25. In the last set Russia continued to play at an excellent level and after 76 minutes they finished the match with the result 3-0. Top scorer in Russia was Mikhaylov and in Egypt – Abdelhay.

Russia – Egypt 3:0 (25:21, 25:17, 25:18)
 
Russia: Khtey (10), Grankin (3), Berezhko (8), Muserskiy (6), Volkov (7), Mikhaylov (13), Verbov (L) and Sivozhelez, Biryukov (2).
Egypt: Youssef (5), Ahmed Abdalla (2), Abdelhay (16), Ahmed A.L. (5), Atia (4), Badawy (5), Alaydy (L) and Abouelhassan, El Kotb, Afifi.