Tatiana Kosheleva scores game-high 16 points for Russia.
Nagoya, Japan - September 4, 2015 - Russia defeated the USA 3-0 today and coach Yury Marichev says "concentration" was key to the victory.
Russia coach Yury Marichev: I'm very happy with the victory. The USA is a strong team. Beating them is something we have been trying to achieve for a while. When we lost to Serbia we lost our concentration after the second set. Today we were able to maintain our concentration. We started No. 14 (Irina Fetisova) today in the hope that we could surprise the U.S. team.
USA coach Karch Kiraly: Russia played a very strong match. This was a disappointing loss. Every tournament brings pain and adversity and this is ours. We have a chance to come back against a good Japan team tomorrow.. No. 1 (Yana Shcherban) played good. We did not execute our game plan well against her. No. 15 (Tatiana Kosheleva) is always good and she was again today.
Russia captain: Ekaterina Kosiankenko: We had strong determination. We have had this determination since the World Grand Prix. Today we were able to win so I am very happy. We are close to the Olympic place. My teammates gave my strength.
Russia player Nataliya Obmochaeva: We played with a lot of concentration today and without many mistakes.
USA captain Christa Dietzen: This was a disappointing match. We did not execute well. They have a number of weapons. Now we have to focus on Japan tomorrow.
USA player Kimberly Hill: It was a disappointing match for us. Russia is very good. We hope we can learn from this and get better.