USA defeat Italy, Canada falls to Russia in five sets

FUKUOKA, Japan, October 2, 2019 – U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Italy 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-14, 25-19) to even its record after two outings in the FIVB World Cup.

Five U.S. players scored in double figures. Matt Anderson and Aaron Russell led the team each with 16 points, including four aces. Max Holt had three blocks and three aces among his 13 points, while Garrett Muagututia and David Smith added 12 and 10, respectively.

In Nagano, Russia came from two sets behind to beat Canada 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-17, 25-23, 15-10) in a thrilling encounter on Wednesday, spurred to victory at Nagano White Ring arena by some terrific serving from Ivan Iakovlev.

Fedor Voronkov (19), Yaroslav Podlesnykh (16), Iakolev (13) and Pavel Kruglov (12) reached double digits in scoring for Russia.

Brendan Barnes (16), Steven Marshall (12) and Lucas Van Berkel (10) were the best Canadians.