FIVB U21 Championships
- June 23-July 2, 2017
- Brno, Czech Republic
- Schedule/Results
Pool A
Canada 3, Morocco 0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-23)
Poland 3, Czech Republic 0 (29-27, 25-23, 25-13)
Pool A’s top spots were decided as Canada and Poland each moved to 2-0 with sweeps on Saturday. With the top two spots, the teams secure themselves a spot among the tournament’s best eight, qualifying for the next stage of medal contention.
The teams will face off for Pool A supremacy on Sunday.
Canada 3, Morocco 0
Canada moved to 2-0 on the tournament putting them in good position for a spot in the final eight, but the team still has work to do according to its coach.
The Canadians committed 21 errors in the match, but made up for it with 11 more kills (41-30). Both teams managed eight blocks and three aces.
“I am satisfied because we won again and now we are in a good position,” Canadian coach Gino Brousseau said. “On the other side, I am not satisfied, because our players did not respect the game plan and that is why the match was much harder than we thought.”
Morocco led throughout much of Set 1, but watched it slip away. Canada cruised to a 25-16 Set 2 win behind Tariq Sani’s attacking. Sani found continued success in Set 3 but Morocco’s Youssef Aatata challenged. In the end, Canada held off a late Moroccan surge for another 25-23 victory.
“I am really happy to see progress in my players’ performance at the tournament,” Moroccan coach Mohammed Abdellaoui Maan said. “They enjoyed the game on the court. Today we had tactical problems, not technical like yesterday. Our troubles are also the endings of the sets. And this is also a problem of youth and inexperience, not a problem of the game. I hope to see my players play very well tomorrow.”
Sani paced Canada with 20 points, including a match-high 19 kills. Matthew Passalent added 10 points, with eight kills and two aces.
Aatata led Morocco with 11 points, including nine kills, a block and an ace, while Oussama Elazhari chipped in 10 points, including nine kills.
Poland 3, Czech Republic 0
In another case of a win without satisfaction, Poland grabbed a sweep of the Czech Republic but gave away 27 points on errors in a closer than necessary match.
“We are happy that we won, but we have to improve some skills, especially not making unforced mistakes,” Polish captain Jakub Kochanowski said. “We made too many of those. The rest of the game was good and I am glad that we won in straight sets.”
The Polish side outdid the Czechs offensively (41 kills to 28) and on the block (6-4), giving them a nice cushion to absorb the miscues.
The Czechs led the first two sets until late when Poland seized control for the slight two point victories. Set 3 was never in question for the Polish side.
“We started very well and kept the same level as Poland,” Czech captain Krisitan Cervicnka said. “We lost the endings of the sets due to lack of aggressiveness. Yesterday we were not patient and today we were not courageous.”
Bartosz Kwolek managed a match-high 17 points, with 12 kills, three aces and two blocks to pace Poland. Norbert Huber followed with nine points, including seven putaways.
Matej Smidl tallied 13 points, with 11 kills and two aces, to lead the Czech Republic. Donovan Dzavoronok followed with nine points, all on kills.
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