Super Slovenia inch closer to Men's VNL Final Four

Slovenia got off to a very shaky start, but continue to galvanize their fans, as they picked up pace to beat Iran in four sets and now sit alone in third place of the standings behind Brazil and Poland at the end of Week 4 in the 2021 FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League which continues at Italy's Adriatic resort of Rimini.

With three matches for each team remaining in pool play, VNL rookies Slovenia got a boost in their quest for the semifinals after both Serbia and France suffered shock defeats to Argentina and Italy.

Slovenia struggled in dealing with Iran's serving in a poor first set, but soon recovered to take the lead. Iran weren't giving up that easily, though. The Asian powerhouse had three set points to force a tie-break and cancelled four Slovenian match points before Tine Urnaut made the kill for the sideout that brought them to their fifth.

Then, Gregor Ropret stepped up to serve and sent the ball, almost like in slow motion, tipping over the top of the net to the utter frustration of Mohammad Mousavi who could do absolutely nothing about it.

Klemen Cebulj was top scorer of the match on 21 points - to counter Iran's blocking which brought in 12 (five from Mousavi alone).

Brazil, meanwhile, rotated their lineup once more, but again they cruised to victory with a sweep of Australia on Thursday which brings the reigning Olympic champions to 11-1 and atop the standings.

Only in the second set did Australia provide some decent resistance, but even then Brazil had it all under control and broke away after 22-22 with a three-point run to finish the set on kills by Alan Souza and Douglas Souza and to cap it all a thundering ace by Isac Santos on Luke Smith.

The high score of the match was just 11 points, shared three ways by Brazil's Mauricio Silva, Isac and Smith.

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Poland also carried on from where they left off the previous night and this time shut out Germany - their third stright-set win in a row.

The reigning world champions were a bit off at times and Germany certainly applied pressure - but it was never for long and Poland were highly more efficient in the business end of each set.

Bartosz Kurek was back in action on Thursday and picked up most of the balls for a match high of 16 points, with Wilfredo Leon following on 13.

But Serbia suffered a major setback in their quest for the Final Four, falling in straight sets to Argentina and dropping to 8-4.

Argentina, who are picking up pace after a slow start, produced solid serving and receiving, with Facundo Conte leading the side on 60% (12/20) attacking and a match high of 16 points.

Serbia are now on an 8-4 record, alongside Russia and France - all still in the chase of a semifinal ticket, but sitting in fourth place in the standings.

Russia advanced with a quick victory over Bulgaria in straight sets despite several of their key players sitting out the match. Dmitry Volkov with 14 points and Victor Poletaev with 13 were the only players of the match to venture into the teens.

With France keeping several key players sidelined and despite coach Laurent Tillie making a number of substitutions midway through the match in a desperate attempt to get back in control, Italy seized the opportunity and stunned their neighbours in five sets.

Italy's young, but so promising players remain full of enthusiasm and energy and have now made France's path to the semifinals that much harder.

Gabrielle Nelli led the Italian charge and attacked for 61% (19/31) producing the match high of 21 points which he shared with France's Stephen Boyer.

But it was the serving of Italy that created problems for France and no amount of substitutions by coach Laurent Tillie managed to change the course of the game other than force a tie-break.

In other VNL action on Thursday, the Netherlands proved they don't need the tourament's top scorer. Nimir Abdel-Aziz was taking a rest, but his Dutch teammates came on the verge of beating USA when they led 13-11 in the tie-break.

But then Taylor Sander took charge. The 29-year-old American made the kill for the sideout, then stepped up to serve two direct aces either side of a spike from Thijs Ter Horst that went long - and USA denied the Dutch their third win of the tournament.

Sander and Garrett Muagututia shared the match high of 21 points in what was a festival of aces - 12 by USA and 7 by the Netherlands with four each from Sander and Stijn van Tilburg. In the absence of Nimir, van Tilburg contributed the Netherlands' top scoring with 19.

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