Mccarthy leads Canadian blockers to spoiling home crowd enthusiasm

Brno, Czech Republic, June 23, 2017 – Led by Fynnian Lionel Mccarthy with six of the team’s 14 kill blocks, Canada persevered through a five-set drama to win against the Czech Republic on the first competition day of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship. In front of a noisy full-hearted crowd on the stands at the DRFG Arena in Brno, the North Americans snatched a 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12) victory to spoil the home party.

Czechia’s Donovan Dzavoronok was the best scorer of the match with 22 points, followed by teammate Matej Smidl with 19 and Canada’s Eric Loeppky with 18.

The first set was very competitive. Despite seven points from Donovan Dzavoronok, Canada’s good blocking brought them to a 25-22 win. With sub-in opposite Matej Smidl now on fire and the Czech blockers also starting to bring points, the home side was in complete control during the second set to tie the match after 25-13. Late effort in set 3 helped Canada narrow Czechia’s wide lead down to only a point before finally losing by 23-25. However, the momentum helped the North Americans regain control in the fourth set. Adding some good serving to their mix, they took a 25-18 win to prompt a tie-breaker and went on to dominate in the fifth set as well. The 15-12 final score was fixed with a powerful spike by Sani Taryq.