TEHRAN – Iran suffered another defeat at the 2021 Volleyball Nations League (VNL), losing to Slovenia on Thursday.

The Persians started the first set with a great performance and defeated Slovenia 25-14 but lost to the European team 20-25, 19-25, 30-32.

Meisam Salehi scored 17 points for Iran while Slovenian Čebulj Klemen earned 21 points.

“We need our best and we tried until the last point of the game, but in the important moments they started to defend better,” Marouf said in the post-match news conference.

“Slovenia is one of the best teams in the tournament, they have a great chance to qualify to the Final Four,” he stated.

Iran have not registered a win since beating the U.S. on Week 3. Since then, Vladimir Alekno’s men have lost to Serbia, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and Slovenia.

Iran have lost seven matches in the competition