CANADA and Turkiye clinched their respective spots in the next round of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship after scoring big wins in Pool G play yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
World No. 8 Canada, also known as the Maple Volleys, rolled to its second straight victory after eliminating fan-favorite Japan 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 while Turkiye also remained unbeaten after two starts with a 25-18, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16 triumph over Libya.
Opposite hitter Sharone Vernon-Evans fired 14 points off 12 attacks, one block and one service ace for the Canadians, while team captain Nicholas Hoag also made big offensive contributions with 13 markers, with middle blocker Daenan Gyimah adding nine hits.
“I think today, we played really well and we’re very disciplined and that’s what we wanted to do going forward. I think we played our brand of volleyball and like kind of our identity of what we wanna be,” Vernon-Evans said.
“Now we go against Turkiye and we’re gonna prepare for that. Definitely, take a rest today and prepare for that match but we’re excited to try to take first place in the pool,” he added.
Japan, one rung higher than Canada at No.7, remained winless after two matches, despite the efforts of outside hitter Ran Takahashi and opposite hitter Kento Miyaura, who delivered 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Bedirhan Bulbul and Ramazan Efe Mandiraci both dropped 16 markers to lift Turkiye, while Adis Lagumdzija chipped in 15 points.
Over at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Cuba crashed the winner’s circle in Pool D after downing Colombia 25-22, 25-21, 25-20.
Outside hitter Osniel Lazaro Mergarejo Hernandez starred for Cuba with 14 points, while Jose Israel Masso Alvares and Marlon Yant Herrera got 12 and 11, respectively.
In Pool E, veteran Gyoryg Grozer notched 19 points to lead Germany to a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 win over Chile.
Outside spiker Erik Rohrs and middle blocker Anton Brehme shone for the German crew with 13 and 10 markers, respectively.
“We had a better game today than against Bulgaria. Of course, Chile is not a so strong team, but they are fighting really strongly against us. You could see in the second and third set that they never give up,” Grozer said after Germany earned its first victory in the preliminaries.
“Our performance in a couple of elements was much better, but still we didn’t reach what we can play. So, I hope that the third game will be a better game and we can win against Slovenia.”
