The Netherlands’ Nimir Abdel Aziz (14) during a game against Canada in the Volleyball Nations League at Mall of Asia Arena. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—The Netherlands was successful in achieving its major goal after trouncing Canada in four sets, 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18, in the Volleyball Nations League at Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
With the competition intensifying in the preliminary round, the Dutch were aiming for a strong start to their campaign in Manila.
“When you play at this level you always [have to] play to win. We had a big goal this week to play good in the first match because every week is different. Different country, different circumstances, different teams so we wanted to start good,” Maarten Van Garderen said after finishing with 11 points in the win.
“We didn’t play our best but mentally, we were very strong today.”
The Netherlands set themselves up for a sweeping victory after a dominant second set.
With the score tied at 21-all in the second set, Canada’s Luke Herr converted an ace but the Dutch fired four unanswered points capped off by a Van Garderen kill for a 2-0 set lead.
The Netherlands, however, failed to sustain its momentum in the third set, falling to a 6-15 deficit as Canada battled back to extend the match to a fourth set.
The Dutch regrouped in the following set where they zoomed to a 19-11 lead.
Nimir Abdel-Aziz topscored for the Netherlands with a game-high 24 points while Gijs Jorna tallied 12 for the No. 10-ranked team.
Canada, which is ranked at 15, was led by Ryan Joseph Sclater’s 20 markers while Nicholas Hoag scored 11.