Katowice, Poland, May 25, 2018 – Russian star Dmitriy Muserskiy, one of the tallest athletes in the world, marked a terrific return to the national team making a solid contribution to the 3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 25-19) victory over Canada in the first leg of the inaugural 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
The 2.18m-tall middle blocker Muserskiy showed a fantastic overall performance, scoring as many as 15 points (10 spikes, 3 blocks, 2 aces), and inspired his young teammates on the way to the straight-set win in his first official game with Sbornaya after the 2016 World League.
Egor Kliuka was the best spiker on the Russian squad. He made 14 successful attacks for an overall 16 points on his tally, which made him the top scorer of the game.
Canada were quite competitive mainly in the first set when they fought bravely and managed to extend it beyond the 25th point, but even though their most prolific player Bradley Robert Gunter (15 points) started scoring abundantly after the first set, his team could not rise up to the level of their classy opponents.
The Polish fans at the Spodek in Katowice showed their usual appreciation of the high-level volleyball put on display by both sides, creating a fantastic atmosphere for a big match. They seemed to be hoping for the show to last longer than three sets, but still left satisfied with what Russia and Canada delivered on the court.
Stephen Timothy Maar helped cancel out the early 2-0 lead for Russia scoring four of Canada’s first six points, including that great overpass kill that tied it at 3-3. Graham Vigrass followed suit – he hit through the middle for a 7-6 Canada lead, killed the overpass for 8-6 and killed the next point for his team through the middle for 9-7. He also had four points on his tally when Canada had a pretty 10-7 advantage.
Dmitriy Muserskiy scored Russia’s only ace of the set to narrow the gap to one point at 11-12. Moments later he made another break point happen with an overpass hit for 17-18. Soon after, Muserskiy even got a chance to shine as a setter. In a long spectacular rally that lasted over 25 seconds, the tallest player on the court did make that pass to Egor Kliuka for the final hit that tied the score at 19-19. Kliuka did it once more, after a fantastic save by Igor Kobzar, to put Russia 20-19 in front. Maar responded with an ace to pull Canada back on top again with a 21-20 lead. In the conclusive moments, a couple of massive blocks by Ilia Vlasov and Anton Karpukhov gave Russia the edge they needed for a 26-24 close.
Kobzar’s ace extended Russia’s early lead in set 2 to 5-1. It was time for Canada’s Bradley Robert Gunter to shine in offence. He spiked a ball with a 113 km/h for 10-6 to start off a mini comeback for his team, but his 11 attacking points total in this set did not suffice for a sustainable turnaround. At key moments, Karpukhov scored important break points for Russia, including the stuff block, which ended the set with a comfortable 25-14 win.
Canada held up through the first technical time-out of the third set, when they had a one-point lead. Muserskiy took centre stage, stringing up a powerful hit through the middle for 11-9, a kill block for 13-10 and a lucky off-the-net ace for 18-12. Canada’s late attempt at a comeback narrowed their deficit to three points, but a fantastic hit by Russian setter Kobzar for 22-18 shifted the momentum. Three unforced errors by Canada handed Russia a 25-19 win and the victory in the match.