Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 26, 2015 - The return of Facundo Conte inspired Argentina to a 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-14, 25-21) win against Pool C rivals Canada, denying Canada guaranteed progression from the Pool.
Argentina secured the first point of the match with Jose Luiz Gonzalez beating three Canada blockers. Playing without the imposing Gavin Schmitt, Canada trimmed an early Argentina deficit to be level at 8-8, but the home side pulled away through the middle of the opening set. Conte was rampant and scored an equal game-high five points in the first stanza along with Maximiliano Gauna. Fittingly Conte scored the final point of the set, with a solid block on Steven Marshall, giving Argentina a 25-17 and 1-0 advantage.
Chasing qualification for the next phase of the World League with at least one win against Argentina this weekend, Canada started the second set brightly, pushing to a 14-9 lead. Having won at least two sets in their past 10 World League matches, Canada is proving to be a team not easy to get the better of and they won the second set 25-18.
Both sides traded blows through the early exchanges of the third, but when Nicolas Uriarte picked up Argentina's sixth block of the match, the hosts led 16-10. Argentina was able to maintain their dominance in the third and took a 2-1 lead with a 25-14 set win. With the prospect of finals still alive with a win, Argentina kept their foot down and pushed to a 10-6 lead in the fourth. Conte continued to enjoy his first match of the 2015 World League and with a game-high 16 points, he guided his team to a 25-21 fourth set win and 3-1 triumph. Steven Marshall scored a team-high 15 for Canada.
Re-live the match text commentary, view the photo gallery and match statistics here.