Ruse, Bulgaria, September 15, 2018 - Canada stays undefeated in Pool B at the 2018 FIVB World Championship! The North Americans achieved third win in a row after 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23) against China in “Arena Monbat” and topped the standings with the maximum 9 points!
Stephane Antiga’s players started the match really well and won the opening set by 25-22. The captain of the Canadians John Gordon Perrin was on fire in the first minutes of the match and scored 9 points.
North Americans continued to control the game in the second set and took 3-point advantage after an ace by John Gordon Perrin (16-13). In the end Sharone Vernon-Evans stole the show with another powerful ace and Canada was two sets ahead after 25-19.
In the third set China reduced the unforced errors, started to play pretty well in attack, and after a huge double block took a crucial 5-point advantage by 16-11. In the next minutes Canada tried to come back, but after another mistake in attack by Sharone Vernon-Evans, the Asians won the third set by 25-21. Chuan Jiang and Libin Liu were the top scorers for China until this moment with respectively 13 and 11 points.
Two huge double blocks in a row by Raul Lozano’s players secured a 4-point advantage for China in the fourth set (16-12). In the minutes after the technical time-out, step by step the Canadians started to play better. Led by Nicholas Hoag and John Gordon Perrin the North Americans won the set by 25-23.
John Gordon Perrin finished as a top scorer with 26 points for the winners. Sharone Vernon-Evans added 14 for Canada. For China Chuan Jiang finished with 19 points.
For Canada it was the seventh consecutive win at a world level major event versus China and second in a row at the World Championship after the straight-set victory in Gdansk in 2014.