Tijuana, Mexico, September 12, 2015 - The coach of Canada, John Barrett, remarked that his team showed a good performance, after a difficult start against Egypt.
“We started to play good volleyball. We were right up against the wall down 2-0. We had nothing left to lose. The boys started to play without any fear. You can’t play with fear. You must be able to play freely, and at that momento we just started to do it, so I feel fortunate that my team just found the courage to play without that fear.”
Ryan Nickifor, captain of Canada expressed: “I knew this match today was going to be a battle against Egypt. We were pressured in the first three sets but we were able to get back and fight really hard on the last two sets.”
He and Brandon Koppers were the top scorers. Koppers finished with 30 points, while Nickifor scored 26. “I think a lot of guys out there can score a lot of points and I am just happy today to contribute. In a five sets match it can happen. I’m just happy that we came out with a win.”
Grzegorz Rys, coach of Egypt said: “We played much better than yesterday. During the first set we los tour main setter maybe it was the reason, and after that we could not play at the same level.”
Rys also remarjed that despite the result. He feels glad, “I’m very glad because it was a real fight today and we were very close to win. We had more possibility to win in third set. But I think that after this match we can improve for next games”.
Ashraf Ellakany, captain of Egypt remarked that they went out to play in the first and second set with a lot of energy. “In the first two sets we played good , in the third set I don’t know what happpened, but we expect to play better. I want to thank the Mexican fans for their support,” he said.