Canada qualifies to second round at World Championship

GDANSK, Poland, September 6, 2014 - Canada outserved Mexico 12-2 en route to a cruising victory in straight sets (25-17, 25-18, 25-19) to earn a ticket to the second round of the championship. The Cannucks improved to a 3-1 mark while Mexico are still looking for their first win after four losses.

Toontje Van Lankvelt, Dallas Soonias and Graham Vigrass spearheaded the attack of the winning side with 16, 12 and 11 points, respectively. Carlos Guerra had 12 points as the lone Mexican player with double digits in the scores.

Cuba 3, Tunisia 2

Rolando Cepeda and Javier Jimenez recorded 24 and 23 points, respectively, in leading Cuba to a thrilling 3-2 (16-25, 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 15-13) victory over Tunisia to stay in contention for a pass to the second round of the event.

Maroen Garci and Mohamed Ali Ben Othmen topped Tunisia with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Cuba evened up their win-loss record at 2-2 and next play Brazil. The winless Tunisia (0-4) are now out of chances to advance.

France 3, United States 1

More than 14,000 spectators packed Krakow Arena to watch the come-from-behind victory of France over United States 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-15, 25-21) to earn a ticket to the second round of the tournament.

Anthony Rouzier once again paced the French attack with 23 tallies with support from Earvin Ngapeth who contributed 15. USA’s Matt Anderson smashed 21 points while Taylor Sander chipped in with 14.

Puerto Rico 3, Italy 1

In the biggest upset so far at the FIVB Men’s World Championship Pool D Puerto Rico brought down Italy 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22) for their first win in Poland. Italy dropped their record to 2-2 while Puerto Rico are at 1-3.

Maurice Torres and Jackson Rivera performed superbly for Puerto Rico, topping all the scorers with 27 and 20 points respectively. For Italy, Ivan Zaytsev led the way with 15 tallies, in a defeat that might have some effect over the Azzurri’s qualification.