Taipei City, Chinese Taipei – The Canadian men’s volleyball team used a seven point rally in the fifth and deciding set to claim a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 16-14) victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their opening match at the 29th Summer Universiade.
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Right side hitter Steve Wood (Nipissing University) led the Canadians with 22 points including 18 kills, three blocks and one service ace while outside hitter Irvan Brar (UBC) added 21 points in the victory.
Trailing 14-9 in the fifth set, outside hitter Lucas Coleman (Ryerson University) stepped to the service line and put the pressure on the UAE defence to help spark the come back. Four consecutive attack errors from UAE tied the set at 14-14 before Coleman found the floor for a critical service ace.
The comeback was completed as another UAE attack went long, sending the Canadian squad into celebration.
“We just believed, that’s all we did,” said Wood following the match. “Coach told us that if we believed then dreams would come true and that’s what happened.”
The Canadians lost the first set 25-23 before rebounding with two 25-21 victories to take a 2-1 match lead. United Arab Emirates claimed the fourth set 25-23 to send the match to the exciting fifth set.
“It was a little slow (to start) but I think we held it together pretty well. A lot of good stuff came out of that first set (and) we transitioned into the second set and we took care of business from there,” added Wood.
Canada moves to 1-0 in pool play and will face Switzerland (0-1) on August 21 at 8:00 a.m. ET.
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