Russia libero Artem Ermakov slaps hands with teammates before starting the match.
Dallas, USA, July 1, 2016 – Russia used powerful serving and blocking to defeat Australia 3:0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-12) on Friday at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Arena.
The victory improved Russia’s record in World League pool play to 4-3. Australia fell to 0-7.
Russia led in spikes (37-31), blocking (8-2) and aces (9-2). Russia scored 28 points on Australia errors while committing only 14.
Australia’s Lincoln Williams led all scorers with 19 points. Dmitriy Volkov and Victor Poltaev each scored 10 points for Russia.
The first set was tied 8-8 when Russia went on a 6-1 run behind the serving of Lukas Divis and Andrey Ashchev to lead 14-9.
Australia kept the second set close. With the score tied 24-24, Russia’s Victor Poletaev gave the Europeans set point with a kill. Dmitriy Muserskiy followed with a kill of Australia’s overpass to give Russia the 26-24 set win.
Russia carried its momentum into the third set, taking an 8-2 lead at the first technical timeout. Australia never recovered.