Ottawa, Canada, June 8, 2018 – Canada have five victories in seven matches, following their 3-0 win on Friday over Australia at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Canada coach Stephane Antiga: “I thought we played pretty well. We needed to play well tonight. It seems easy because we won 3-0 but we played nice volleyball, we served and spiked really well. In the third set we played very well so I’m very happy with that. We didn’t waste a lot of energy because we played only three sets and some guys like Gavin Schmitt and Arthur Szwarc both played a little bit. There were many fans, which makes us happy.”
Canada captain Tyler Sanders: “I think we’re all super excited to be home and you could see we were a little bit antsy at the beginning of the game. It’s good to be back in front of a home crowd and we want to play well. It’s cool to show them some good volleyball and obviously we’re really happy that we came home and got the 3-0 victory. We’ll do our normal preparation for the next two games, but our goal right now is to win every game. I think we’re playing at a high level right now and I think we’re going to have opportunities to win those games, it just matters how we play at the end of the day.”
Canada player Gavin Schmitt: “It’s good to be back with the guys, obviously in a smaller role. The guys are playing really good and my goal was just to help out in any way I can and I was able to bring a little bit of energy in a tight second set. Overall I think we played pretty well. Australia had a really good second set. They were making us play really hard and we’re digging a lot of balls so we had to escape from that, but once we did, we got rolling in the third and we were able to get the win. For me the crowd always helps. When you’re at home and you have fans cheering for you, it’s one of the greatest feelings ever and it gives you more energy.”
Australia coach Mark Lebedew: “We certainly had good opportunities in the first and second with leads, but we just didn’t take our chances. They were feeling more pressure than what was actually there. Canada was really efficient in siding-out from medium situations.
“Sometimes it felt like we needed to play better than perfect, otherwise we have no chance. For the upcoming games we will just have to trust that we are able to make the plays.”
Australia captain Paul Carroll: “This wasn’t the plan we had for this evening. In the first and second set we had the lead early, then Canada played well and made great plays in the end. Third set they served well, then that was it. If we changed one or two things in the first couple sets it would have been a different result. I give credit to Canada. We’re just going to keep playing our game, adjusting little things and scout out USA and Germany and leave it all out there.”