The fourth set of the match was the most contested one of the four. Canada reached their first match point at 24-23. It was denied with a successful attack by Mathis Henno. The 21-year-old French outside hitter did it again at Canada’s next opportunity to close the game, but with successful swings from opposite Xander Ketrzynski and outside Stephen Maar, the home team secured the three points.
Ketrzynski topped the chart with a match-high 20 points, including three blocks. Canada’s outsides Eric Loeppky (two blocks) and Maar added 18 and 12 points respectively, while middle blockers Jackson Howe (four blocks) and Danny Demyanenko (three blocks) finished with 10 points each. Setter Luke Herr chipped in with another three stuffs towards the team’s impressive tally of 15 kill blocks, against only seven from the French.
France outserved Canada by 6-1 in aces. Two of their aces were produced by Henno, who was the team’s second best scorer with 16 points, while opposite Stephen Boyer delivered a team-high 19.
“I’m obviously super grateful. We have a lot of skills that we have been working on and were able to put those on display tonight,” said Stephen Maar. “We were able to sit with it down the stretch and go point by point with a really strong, technical team. And I’m glad we were able to outlast them. The performance yesterday wasn’t what anyone wanted, but with a crowd like this, it’s easy to find the motivation to get back at it.”
