Germany clobbered Iran, 25-20, 25-23, 25-20, in the battle between also-ran squads for a graceful exit in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) preliminary phase on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Moritz Karlitzek topscored with 21 points on 17 hits, two blocks and two aces as the Germans finished at 5-7 for 12th place of the 16-team VNL.
Germany, world No. 9, missed the cut for the eight-team final round in Poland next year but can now shift its focus to the Paris Olympics next month as one of the 12 qualified squads.
“We’re super happy that we finished the VNL this year for us with a victory and can go home with a good feeling,” said the 6-foot-3 outside hitter Karlitzek.
He drew solid coverage from Moritz Reichert with 13 points as five more players barged into the scoring board for the German spikers, who went 2-2 in their Manila stint.
Germany bowed to Canada and USA but pulled off a stunner on reigning Olympic gold medalist France as the team cherished its stay here as the silver lining in their VNL exit.
“Well, I can speak about the tournament here was perfectly organized. We felt really well and also playing in front of the crowd was amazing. The fans were all the time supporting us so we had a good time. Thank you for supporting us and making this event nice and well,” added Karlitzek.
Iran, on the other hand, also scored two wins in the Philippines after going winless in the first two legs at 0-8.
Iran’s stellar campaign here included big wins against USA and the Netherland for a 2-10 overall slate at 15th place. It’s other loss came against France, the host of the Summer Games.
Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh Firouzjah and Amin Esmaeilnezhad led Iran’s gallant stand with 19 and 10 points, respectively.
