San Juan, Argentina, June 1, 2018 – Canada played at an excellent level to stop Italy’s winning streak in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League with a 3-1 victory on Friday.
Canada coach Stephane Antiga: “We played very well. It was a match that we prepared a lot for and it’s always a motivation to play against Italy because they played very good on the first weekend. We made an excellent match today. We needed that level to beat them. This is very important to qualify to the Final Six but we need to keep fighting.”
Canada captain Tyler Sanders: “We’re very happy because Italy were playing in a very good level and we couldn’t do it last weekend. I think we came in with a bigger spirit and we made a good game in serving and blocking. We’re going to keep planning to face each team and there are a lot of different team styles with great players this weekend. Our attack will be key but we also need to keep serving and maintain our concentration.”
Italy coach Gianlorenzo Blengini: “We’re disappointed for the result but we didn’t play well. We were not clear in our play and in part it’s normal because we didn’t train much together. We did it better last weekend, but we know we will find difficulties match by match. We found a very good team in front of us and we tried to find a solution with power, which was not the better way. They won because they played better than us.”
Italy captain Ivan Zaytsev: “We didn’t play in the way we expected. We were very nervous, we made mistakes and we didn’t have mental energy to react to a good match played by the Canadians. They served well and the result is clear. We need to correct our mindset. We need to be more patient and to be sure that we’re a strong team and that we can trust each other. Tomorrow we have a new chance.”