Qatar's Renan Ribeiro blocks Puerto Rico's Steven Morales.
Thessaloniki, Greece, June 26, 2016 - Qatar completed their debut World League appearance on a high, after shutting out Puerto Rico 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-16) in Group 3 action.
Neither team could qualify to next weekend's Final Four in Frankfurt, but Puerto Rico needed the win to avoid finishing the last NORCECA team in the Group 3 standings.
Qatar's block once again rose to the occasion, with Ibrahim Ibrahim getting in 5 points out of his team's total of 9 (to Puerto Rico's 2). Puerto Rico struggled in reception and also conceded as many as 27 unforced errors.
On the back of his blocking and with a 89% kill ratio (8/9) Ibrahim emerged as Qatar's best scorer with 14 points including set points for first set with an ace and for second with an attack down the middle. Bojan Djukic added another 11 for the Asian side. Puerto Rico's Steven Morales was top scorer of the game with 21 points, including 21/37 for 57% in attacking.
The first two sets were closely contested with Ibrahim taking Qatar to a small lead at the very end of each set to go 2-0 up in the match.
The third set was a very different story with Qatar leading by three points at the first technical time-out. Ibrahim remained unstoppable in attack as the Asian side extended their advantage to 16-10. Puerto Rico never found their way back into the match as a simple error handed Qatar the third set, 25-16.