Canada rallies, stuns U.S. at World League volleyball
Canadians now 2-0 in 1st appearance in top-tier Group 1
The Canadian men's volleyball team continued to show a flair for the dramatic in their first weekend of FIVB World League action this season, scoring another tiebreak victory on Saturday.
Canada fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 in sets to their opponents from the United States – the 2016 Olympic bronze medallists – but rallied back for a fifth-set victory in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Brad Gunter had 17 points while Gord Perrin added 15 to top the Canadians, who won 23-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-23, 15-11.
"I'm very satisfied by the victory," Canada's coach Stephane Antiga said. "It was difficult and still we are committing too many mistakes, but I'm happy. We didn't give up and we found solutions at the most important times."
This is the Canadians' first international action under Antiga, who was hired as head coach in December, and first since they finished fifth at last summer's Rio Olympics — their first appearance in 24 years.
Canada upset the United States in its opening game in Rio. The Americans went on to win bronze. Both teams have had an injection of youth in the post-Olympic season.
Canada scored a five-set tiebreak win over Belgium on Friday, and now improve to 2-0 this weekend with the third and final matchup coming against Serbia on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBCSports.ca).
You can also catch volleyball coverage on CBC TV on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on Road to the Olympic Games, our show spotlighting the best high-performance athletes from Canada and around the world.
With files from The Canadian Press