Bari, Italy, September 13, 2018 - The first clash of the second day of the tournament in Bari delivered an intriguing game, with Australia mounting a comeback from two sets down before USA pulled out their second 3-2 victory in as many matches they have contested at PalaFlorio this far.
Mark Lebedew, head coach of Australia: “The point we claimed today was crucial in the race for the top four spots in the ranking of Pool C. I am happy since we proved to have a good asset to play volleyball even when facing a high-level and tough team like the United States. The turnover of the players taking to the court was pivotal to making the difference on the game flow. I am very lucky to coach such a skilled and balanced roster. This was somehow special, I mean to mount such a comeback and play the match point-to-point at the tie-break.”
Erik Shoji, libero of USA: “We are happy with this second victory in Pool C. After the fixture against Serbia, we won against Australia. We regret that we could not take three points, but the opponents on the other side of the net never gave up. We were not ready for the substitutions they made. There is a lot of enthusiasm and confidence in our team. Today we made a step forward towards reaching the goal to finish as one of the top two teams of this pool. Tomorrow we will relax and start preparing for the big match against Russia.”