Iran lost to Russia 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 24-26, 25-22) at White Ring Nagano on Tuesday.
“In the first two sets, we were sleepy, we didn’t play well, without focus on our game. Russia was better than us in all elements, especially in service, and we didn’t find a way to solve the problems in the first two sets," Kolakovic said.
"In the middle of the third set we changed the situation and started to play as we know, but in the last set also, in the last period after 20-20, again Russia was really good in the service. One service was on the line, it’s not possible to cover all of the court in that moment, and that was a really important point for Russia,” he added.
“If you compare the number of blocks between us and Russia, it’s a big difference. This means we are not a blocker team and we can play block defense tactically, but without kill blocks because our players are not able to make a lot of kill blocks like the Russian team. Not just because the Russian team is so much taller than us, just because our game is completely different. We play with really good energy and big fight, but today we didn’t have it, especially in the first two sets. I hope we can continue our game with high fight and big motivation. I know this game needed a lot of energy, but we can’t play volleyball without this,” he concluded.