Canada edges Bulgaria, Cuba and Mexico lose

GDANSK, Poland, September 3, 2014 – Gavin Schmitt stole the limelight from Pool C leaders Bulgaria as he led Canada in the thrilling five-setter (17-25, 25-17, 20-25, 26-24, 15-8) in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Ergo Arena on Wednesday.

Schmitt and Bulgaria’s Tsvetan Sokolov each charted 22 points in the match but Schmitt’s heroics proved to be worthy for the victory.

The Canadian blocking was solid as they totaled 13 for the match to Bulgaria’s seven.

Germany 3, Cuba 0

Opposite spiker György Grozer conducted World No 10, Germany to beat  No 7 Cuba 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-19) in Day 5 of the 2014 FIVB Men's World Championship at Spodek Hall in Katowice, Poland on Wednesday. 

Germany improved their won-loss record after two matches to 1-1, while Cuba dropped to 0-2. 

György Grozer led the match and German scorers with 19 points, including 4 ace services, followed by Denys Kaliberda 10. From The Cuban side, outside hitter Ernesto Jimenez scored 15 points as best scorer. 

What made the difference was the big dominance by the German team in serving and blocking skills as the winners had a 5-2 advantage in aces, and 12-4 margin in the blocking charts.

China 3, Mexico 1

Zhi Yuan enjoyed his second 30-point performance at the FIVB Men’s World Championshio leading China to a 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-20) over Mexico on Wednesday.

Zhi, who recorded 31 points in China’s 3-1 victory over Egypt in their opening match, came back with 30, including a tournament-high 6 aces against Mexico. Xin Geng added 13 points and Daoshuai Ji chipped in with nine in the victory.

Carlos Guerra and Daniel Vargas finished with 18 and 15 points for Mexico, respectively, and Tomas Aguilera added eight as Mexico dropped to a 0-2 record.