Canada mastered a straight-set victory over Cuba in the last Pool H match at Levski Sofia volleyball hall in Bulgaria on Wednesday, as both teams advanced to the semifinals in the foursome battling for the ninth place at FIVB Volleyball U21 Men’s World Championship 2021. Bahrain finished third in the pool to continue the tournament in the bracket for the 13th place.

After a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-17) shutout of Cuba, Canada topped the final standings in Pool H undefeated. It was the first defeat in the pool for their opponents, who will also continue in the tournament as a contestant for the ninth place. 15 unforced errors by the Cubans practically mandated Canada to win the first set. They did so on a powerful pipe by Samuel Cooper for the last point. Stepping up their efforts in both spiking and blocking, the Canadians took the second set and it was once again Cooper who delivered the winner, this time with a smart elegant touch in offence. Riding the momentum, Canada cruised through a one-sided third set to close the match on a hit by Michael Donovan.

Opposite Samuel Cooper contributed 12 points to Canada’s victory. The only other player to reach the double digits in the match was Cuba’s outside Victor Andreu, who tallied 10 points. In this all-NORCECA clash, Cuba scored nine kill blocks, against six by the opponents, but Canada did better in all other point-scoring elements, such as the serving, which brought the northerners three aces, against none for the guys from the Caribbean island.

“We needed to win this game, because we wanted to win our pool and came out to do that. I think we played very well as a team. We served well, we passed well, we played for each other and that was important. Everybody did his job,” Canadian middle blocker James Vincett told Volleyball World.

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FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship 2021
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