28-Nov, start time: 15:05, end time: 16:17 - Attendance: 327

TUN	0	23	20	20	-	-	63
CAN	3	25	25	25	-	-	75

Match Description:

Canada Defeat Tunisia for Third Win
Canada collected their third win of the 2003 men's World Cup of Volleyball when they downed Tunisia in straight-sets at Site B in Tokyo. The NORCECA Championship runners-up, led by the impressive attacking skills of Sebastien Ruette, won 25-23, 25-20, 25-20 in the Metropolitan Stadium, while Tunisia suffered what was their eighth defeat in nine games.

The victory keeps Canada ahead of Venezuela on the World Cup standings and gives them a chance of catching hosts Japan. Venezuela were 3-1 winners in the opening Site B match of the day while Japan face France in the last match at Site A.

Tunisia enjoyed the better start with Noureddine Hfaiedh and Hosni Karamosly immediately into the action. Consecutive spikes from Marouan Fehri saw them move 10-6 ahead only for Canada, led by the offense of Ruette, to fight back and take a 22-21 lead. Canada held on to take the first set with a spike from Jason Haldane and a block from Ruette.

Consecutive Tunisian errors gifted Canada an early lead in the second, and some effective spiking by middle blocker Murray Grapentine helped them to extend their advantage to15-10. Ruette continued to launch his bombs from the flanks as Canada maintained their lead before sealing the set with another Grapentine spike.

But the Tunisians are nothing if not fighters, as they proved in their five-set victory over Japan and narrow loss to France and they made Canada work hard at the start of the third. Hfaiedh continued to trouble the Canadians but gradually their power started to tell. They moved from 9-9 to 16-14, extended their lead to 21-17 with a spike from Fred Winters, and rounded off their win with another hit from Haldane.

Comments:

DEROCCO, Stelio (CAN Head Coach)
" Tunisia have shown great improvement through the last few years. Their games in this tournament well indicate their playing ability. What was good about this match is that we got back to winning after the tough matches against Italy, Brazil and France. We lost all three games, but we expressed good volleyball. We started slow today, but we were patient and were able to control the game after 20-17."

RUETTE, Sebastien (CAN Player)
" We had a slow start, but we played better and better, and didn't give them a chance to win. We are now 3-6 (3 wins and 6 losses), so we have a good chance to finish either fifth or sixth."

GIACOBBE, Antonio (TUN Head Coach)
" I think we played well. We had the possibility to control the situation especially at the first set, but we lost. Therefore we lost our concentration and made a lot of easy mistakes. It was very difficult for us to play."

GUIDARA, Ghazi (TUN Captain)
" This match was very big for us, and we tried to fight hard against Canada. The first set was the key point to control the game, but we lost and Canada became the controller of this game. That is why we lost this game."

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF