(Tokyo) Canada knew they had no wiggle room in the Tokyo Olympics volleyball tournament. He needed a three-set win over Venezuela to stay in the race for the quarter-finals. He did not miss his mission on Friday at Ariake Arena.
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Frédéric Daigle
The Canadian Press
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Glenn Hoag’s side triumphed over Venezuela 3-0 with sets of 25-13, 25-22 and 25-12, collecting three important points in the classification.
“It was good, although the guys were a little anxious knowing they absolutely had to win 3-0. You often want to do a little more in this time. We saw it in the second set: we missed a lot of serves. Overall, the guys are playing a level of volleyball that brings a lot of satisfaction. Even against Italy and Japan, I have never seen the Canadian team play at this level. We must continue. ”
“After the first two games (losses against Italy and Japan), we knew we had our backs to the wall,” noted Stephen Maar, author of 15 points against Venezuela. Everyone wanted to offer their best performance against Iran (Thursday). Today we were able to take control of this game. It gives us the opportunity to tackle the duel against Poland while still having the hope of qualifying. We have placed ourselves in a good position. We needed this victory and got it. ”
This victory allows Canada to temporarily find itself at seven points, tied with Poland, ahead of Japan (6), Iran (5) and Italy (5). Venezuela brings up the rear in Group A with four losses in as many outings.
Poland will face Japan in the afternoon, while Iran and Italy will cross swords in the evening. Teams receive an extra point for a loss in five innings.
His duel on Sunday against Poland will therefore be of great importance.
“You have to have a big game against Poland,” noted Nicholas Hoag, who scored 16 points in the win against Venezuela. I think the guys all figured out what we needed, that’s okay. We have to focus on Poland: the other games are out of our control.
“It’s certain that having won 3-0 will give us more time to rest. We will have fresher legs for Poland. ”
Due to the points at stake, various scenarios are possible for reaching the quarterfinals, but Glenn Hoag would prefer his club not to complicate matters.
“I prefer not to do the math and go straight to winning,” he said. Poland have a big club, they should normally end up on the podium. We played a good match against her in Volleyball Nation League, we had a close 3-1: we are able to beat them. ”
Against Venezuela, Canada took advantage of Maar’s inspired play in the first set. Replacing captain John Perrin, Maar has scored eight of his 15 points in this set, including three on blocks.
Venezuela showed their teeth in the next set, but were never able to carve out a lead of more than two points. Canada managed to tie it 21-21 before scoring three straight points, including one that gave them the lead for good on a big block from Nicholas Hoag.
“We made too many serving errors in this round,” said coach Hoag. It’s a team that you have to manage, we did it less well in this round. ”
This end of the round seemed to exhaust Venezuela, who only made an act of presence in the third set. Maar put an exclamation mark on his game with a winning serve.
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