Canada and Cuba force five-set battles with Italy and Serbia respectively

July 06, 2023.-  Canada added a hard-fought point to help avoid relegation after a five-set match to Italy, while Cuba continues threatened by relegation with just two wins, but the point earned against Serbia helped the Caribbean earn one spot, passing China and moving to 14th place in the Volleyball Nations League.

Although off to a shaky start, Canada battled back against the Italians to force the tie-break. Italy, however, took an early lead in the final set and managed the win 2-3 (14-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 9-15) in Pasay City, Philippines.

Ryan Sclater led all scorers with 22 points (16 attacks, 5 blocks and an ace), while teammates Stephen Maar (18) and Nick Hoag (14) also reached double digits.  Overall, Italy led in attack (65-56), blocks (12-9), service (8-6) points and gave up 4 fewer points from errors.  

Tomorrow is a day off for team Canada, followed by two crucial matches – against Poland and China. Poland is looking to make the quarterfinals, while China has a similar record to Canada, also with two matches yet to play.

In Anaheim, the United States, Serbia were strongly challenged by Cuba, but pulled off a dramatic 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-11).

Cuba counted on a stellar performance from Jesus Herrera to push Serbia to their limits as the athletic opposite produced impressive 30 points, with 24 kills, five aces and one block.

In the end, the ten-point difference in opponent errors (40 to 30 in Serbia’s favor) proved to be pivotal for the final result as the Cubans were better in kills (53 to 45) and aces (eight to seven), while both teams got 14 blocks.

Tomorrow Cuba faces Germany.

Full schedule is here:
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/vnl-2023/schedule/
 
Standings: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/vnl-2023/standings/men/