Canada had too much firepower for the Bulgarian block on Saturday
Botevgrad, Bulgaria, May 30, 2015 – Canada beat Bulgaria 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21) in their FIVB World League clash at the Arena Botevgrad on Saturday evening.
The Canadians seemed better prepared in set one, racing into an easy lead that they never lost. With John Perrin blocking well and Gavin Schmitt hitting accurately for Canada, the lack of a second spiker to take pressure of Bulgarian captain Vladimir Nikolov caused the home side trouble. Canada took the set 25-20.
In the second set, the same pattern continued. Gavin Schmitt hit aces while Nikolov was plagued by service errors. Canada setter Tyler Sanders distributed well, and Bulgarian coach Plamen Konstantinov changed his setter, trying out old hand Todor Aleksiev. But the Canadians went 2-0 up with a 25-19 win.
Unforced errors helped Canada lead in set three, but Bulgaria finally found their game, with a Todor Skrimov hit and a block by Todor Aleksiev helping them edge ahead and take the set 25-22. And it stayed quite close in set four, until a late surge by Canada – led by the superb spiking and serving of Gavin Schmitt, gave them the set (25-21) and match, 3-1. Gavin Schmitt was the match top scorer with 26 points. Vladimir Nikolov got 20 points for Bulgaria. Follow the match text commentary
here.