TEHRAN – Iran defeated Australia 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 27-25) at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Men's World Cup at Nagano White Ring on Saturday.

Lincoln Alexander Williams led Australia with a match-high 19 points and Amir Ghafour scored 18 points for Iran.

Team Melli will face Brazil on Sunday.

“The last set shows us that this was a really tough game, even though the first set wasn’t so dramatic. For us this was important because we finished the tough last set with victory, and it was also important for us that some young players took their place on the court,” Kolakovic said in the post-match press conference.

“They played very well and I think they will take good experience from this game. (During) one period we didn’t control their (Australia’s) really good service, but fortunately they started to make a lot of mistakes with their service and it was easier for us to take side out, and in the end with a good block we controlled their good attack,” he added.

The 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup is the 14th staging of the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Cup, contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament is being held in Japan from Oct. 1 to 15.

Japan played hosts for this event for the twelfth consecutive time since 1977.

This is the first time since 1989 that FIVB decided not to allocate any spots in the Olympics, due to Japan hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics.