Volleyball Canada – Hiroshima, Japan, October 13, 2019 – Canada kept its composure to win a thrilling contest with Italy 3-2 (19-25, 25-17, 15-25, 25-23, 18-16) at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup on Sunday at Hiroshima’s Green Arena.
“Volleyball is in the blood of the Italians. They have shown us over the decades how to play volleyball at an extremely high level. We’ve learned a lot from them, so I thank them for that, and for these opportunities,” said Canada’s coach Dan Lewis.
“This game today for our players was about character. We have five left sides right now and no libero (due to injury), so we are managing the situation the best we can. Today two of our left sides had times where they weren’t performing necessarily at a high level, and they just needed a break. They came off and they went back in, and all I asked them for was basically a relentless pursuit to execute. That’s what we’re looking for right now. With our current collective we need gut checks, character checks, and we need to care about each other, rally round each other, and we proved today that when we do that, if we choose to do that and not look for excuses, if we choose to rally with each other then we can play and we can win. So that’s what we’ll try to do for the next two matches.”
Gabriele Nelli was match top scorer with 23 points for Italy. Canada’s team captain, Nicholas Hoag, contributed 21 points to the win; while Stephen Maar scored 20. Full stats here.
“It was two very young teams playing, both have highs and lows, and you could see that today, especially on our side,” admitted Hoag. “We had two let-downs in the first and the third sets, I think. We’re still trying to find that consistency, and we’re getting it from time to time and we can win the sets that we are consistent in. It was a battle today. I think we’re all getting tired, it’s a long tournament. We’re obviously very happy with the win, it’s very important for us to fight for everything and try and get some wins here.”
- 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.
Official web site:
http://worldcup.2019.fivb.com/en
Roster:
#3 Steven Marshall, Abbotsford, BC
#4 Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC (captain)
#6 Ryley Barnes, Edmonton, AB
#7 Stephen Maar, Aurora, ON
#9 Jason DeRocco, Winnipeg, MB
#10 Sharone Vernon-Evans, Scarborough, ON
#11 Daniel Jansen Vandoorn, Langley, BC
#12 Lucas Van Berkel, Edmonton, AB
#13 Byron Keturakis, Surrey, BC
#15 Derek Epp, Saskatoon, SK
#19 Blair Bann, Edmonton, AB
#20 Arthur Szwarc, Toronto, ON
#21 Brett Walsh, Calgary, AB
#22 Blake Scheerhoorn, Belleville, ON
#23 Danny Demyanenko, Toronto, ON
Staff:
Dan Lewis, Head coach
Lionel Bonnaure, Assistant coach
Olivier Faucher, Assistant coach
Tracy Blake, Athletic therapist
Julien Boucher, Team manager
Photo and info: FIVB
Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676