TEHRAN – Iran overpowered host Bulgaria in straight sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-21) in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League on Saturday.

Mohammadjavad Manavinejhad was Iran’s best scorer with 14 points and Tsvetan Sokolov had 20 points for Bulgaria.

Igor Kolakovic’s men, who have already won a quota place for the competition’s final round, will face the U.S. on Sunday.

This is the first edition of the World League or the Nations League to have the Final Round hosted in North America.

The 16 teams compete in a round-robin format with every core team hosting a pool at least once. The teams are divided into four pools of four teams at each week and compete five weeks long, for 120 matches.

 The top five teams after the preliminary round join the hosts of the final round to compete in the final round.