Canada fended off Japan’s late comeback bid to finish a surprising 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 sweep and punch its ticket to the Spherical of 16 of the 2025 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship on Monday on the Sensible Araneta Coliseum.
The world no. 9 Canadians cruised to a cushty 20-15 lead in Set 3 after the Japanese dedicated three straight assault errors with their group captain Yuki Ishikawa driving the bench for nearly the whole thing of the body.
However Japan mounted a late push as Ishikawa briefly checked again in for service, delivering an ace that trimmed the deficit to 18-21. His alternative, Tatsunori Otsuka, then made his mark with back-to-back kills that introduced the Japanese inside a single level, 21-22.
Canada then foiled Japan’s fightback with Isaac Heslinga swinging for 2 consecutive kills from the left wing, each over the protection of Japan’s setter Motoki Eiro as they zoomed to the match level at 24-22.
Sharone Vernon-Evans delivered the ending blow with an off-balance kill from the other facet, sealing Canada’s sweep and sending them by means of to the following spherical with nonetheless a sport left within the preliminary spherical.
Vernon-Evans took cost with 14 factors on 12 assaults, one ace, and one block whereas Nicholas Hoag and Heslinga chipped in 13 and eight markers apiece as they improved to 2-0 in Pool G.
Canada will nonetheless tackle fellow undefeated group Turkey on Wednesday to find out who takes the highest spot of their group.
Japan, who reached the Spherical of 16 within the 2022 version, bowed out of rivalry this time regardless of getting strong outings from Ran Takahashi and Kento Miyauri, who posted 11 and 10 factors every.
Japan will look to shut out its run on a excessive observe on Wednesday towards Libya.
Earlier, Turkey shrugged off a Set 2 loss to eke out a 25-18, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16 win over the world no. 75 Libya and stay spotless to date.
Bedirhan Bulbul and Ramazan Mandiraci paced the world no. 16 Turkey with 16 factors every as they improved to 2-0 whereas Libya remained winless at 0-2.
—JMB, GMA Built-in Information
