Canada and USA with 2-0 mark at FIVB World League

CALGARY, Canada, June 2, 2014 – World No. 11-ranked Canada began its FIVB Volleyball World League journey Saturday night with a straight-sets (25-21, 25-19, 25-20) victory over Finland in Pool C.

Canada capitalized on 28 Finland errors and out-blocked the visitors 9-4, riding a 16-point performance by Gavin Schmitt to earn the opening-night victory.

Finland’s Urpo Sivula picked up 15 points on the night, all on attacks, while Matti Oivanen had five attacks and all of Finland’s four blocks. Schmitt led Canada with 12 kills, with Perrin adding nine.

A night after earning a straight-sets victory, Canada had to dig deep Sunday to emerge with a 3-2 win (19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 15-11) over plucky Finland in FIVB Volleyball World League action at the Stampede Corral in Calgary, Alberta.

Led once again by a 28-point effort in just four sets from Gavin Schmitt, Canada weathered the storm early and made their home fans happy after a thrilling finish.

In the first week, USA scored two victories against Bulgaria in Pool B of the Intercontinental Round.

USA defeated Bulgaria 3-2 (19-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-19, 15-12) after staging a dramatic comeback in front of a passionate Bulgarian crowd. 

Bulgaria’s Tsvetan Sokolov was the match’s top scorer with 25 points while Matt Anderson was narrowly behind him with 24 points for USA

USA came back from behind for the second day running to beat Bulgaria 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-17) in front of 5,000 fans at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna. 

Matthew Anderson was the game's top scorer with 20 points.