Semyshev leads Russia to first win in Brno

Brno, Czech Republic, June 23, 2017 – Anton Semyshev made a strong performance in Russia’s first match at the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship. His team mastered a 3-0 (32-30, 25-17, 25-14) victory over Cuba in their Pool B game at the DRFG Arena in Brno.

Semyshev was the best scorer of the match with 19 points, including three aces, followed by four players with 11 points each – Russia’s Aleksei Kononov and Dmitry Yakovlev and Cuba’s Osniel Lazaro Melgarejo and Miguel David Gutierrez. Kononov was responsible for five of his squad’s eight kill blocks in the match

At the end of a hard-fought first set, both teams were too nervous to convert their set points until a successful double block finished it all off at 32-30 Russia’s way. With Anton Semyshev on fire, especially in offence, Russia dominated the second set on the way to a 25-17 win. Their momentum continued into the third set, which they closed off at 25-14 with a spectacular ace.