The USA came out on top in five sets 3-2 (21-25, 25-11, 20-25, 25-19, 15-13) despite a determined Canadian squad today at the FIVB World Cup in Japan.
Matt Anderson led the U.S. and all scorers with 20 points. Nick Hoag was Canada’s top scorer with 18 points; Dan Jansen Vandoorn contributed 16 points, including nine successful blocks. More stats here.
“A disappointing loss; whenever you have a chance to beat the U.S., it’s a great opportunity,” said coach Dan Lewis.
“They (USA) served really well, and in a couple of sets we were broken open after that. But we really needed to rebound after the match with Argentina as a group, and we did tonight. I was really proud of the guys…. It’s very difficult to get wins in this tournament with the best teams in the world and the number of matches, as well we’ve suffered some injuries, but the guys are sticking together and rallying each night. We’re trying to find these little victories. If don’t look for the little victories in each part of the game, it gets harder to win the full matches. We’re starting to string together these mini-victories and this is starting to give us momentum again.”
Canada plays Italy next over the weekend.
- Summary of results so far: http://worldcup.2019.
fivb.com/en/news/fivb- volleyball-mens-world-cup— results?id=88816 - Streaming schedule: www.cbc.ca/sports
The 12 participating teams in the FIVB World Cup compete in a single round-robin competition over 11 match days. Three games are played at each venue each match day.
The World Cup was last held in 2015 – Canada finished seventh overall.