Betim, Brazil, October 29, 2015 - Playing to reach the top spot of Pool B, Paykan Tehran from Iran emerged as winners after a close fight against Argentina’s UPCN San Juan 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-22). The match also gave final shape to both semifinal duels scheduled for Friday.
Iranian opposite Amir Ghafour was a key asset for Paykan with 15 points, while UPCN’s Todor Aleksiev gave his side the same amount. However, the Asian team also had great outputs in middle-blockers Saman Faezi (13) and Nikolay Nikolov, the latter with a tournament-high of six stuff blocks.
Paykan stepped forward on the first set with huge blocks from Nikolov, appearing at the net every time that UPCN tried to claw their way back. Bulgarian middle-blocker added an ace on 20-17 and Ghaemi did as well to bring the episode to a close. The second set was similar, this time with Ghafour as the weapon of choice in Paykan and UPCN battling harder, but nonetheless the Asian team moved to a 2-0 lead, precisely scored by Ghafour with an ace.
After some clear development on the final track of the second set, UPCN kept that momentum on the third, as the match entered a point-by-point period. Aleksiev and Filardi teamed up for the Argentinean resistance and the Bulgarian kept rolling for a 3-point lead (19-16), but that was it. Ghafour brought Paykan at range, Faezi rebuilt the advantage at 21-20 and Ghafour reappeared to seal the win.