Kiraly's team threw away a match point in the third set, but recovered to in four
Verona, Italy, September 28, 2014 – USA coach Karch Kiraly said the hard work has only just started after topping Pool C at PalaOlimpia on Sunday.
USA coach Karch Kiraly: “It has been a great, great battle, and I've enjoyed it so much. Both teams played a very good volleyball, and I congratulate in particular (Tatiana) Kosheleva. But the championship has just began, now we've to get ready for the other matches, because we will face strong teams such as Brazil and Serbia.”
USA captain Christa Harmott Dietzen: “We are very excited about this victory, Russia is a fantastic team, their player number 15 and 11 are ones of the tallest in the world, but we didn’t let that bother us. We were able to come back, side out and turn points and we just kept going at them and they kept fighting back so it was an all out battle and it was a blast to play.”
Russia coach Yury Marichev: “We are ready, we take some rest and we wait until Wednesday to show the world again that we can play good volleyball.”
Russia captain Ekaterina Kosianenko: "I didn't play a lot in this match, so I want only to congratulate my team, especially Tatiana (Kosheleva) who was a real warrior. We had a lot of problems both in attack and defence, but we fought with heart until the end. I'm waiting for the next match with USA to demonstrate what we are able to do."