NETHERLANDS held off Canada, 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18, for its first win in the Pasay City leg of the 2023 Volleyball Nations League on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Captain Abdel-Aziz Nimir led all scorers with 24 points on 22 attacks and two aces. Jorna Goijs and Van Garderen Maarten chipped in 12 and 11, respectively, for the Orange Tulips, who came out firing to take a two-set lead.
Despite conceding the third set, 17-25, the Dutch quickly put down the Canadian comeback to close out the match in the fourth canto, 25-18.
Holland improved to 5-4 to retain its place in the top eight while Canada fell to a 2-7 win-loss card.
“This game is really important. We know that it’s really close in the battle for seventh/ eighth place. So we needed this win in hopes to still qualify for the finals, so yeah it was an important match.” Nimir said.
Scalter Ryan Joseph led the way with 20 points on 18 attacks and two aces for the Canadians, who will look to get back on track in a game against Italy while the Netherlands go head-to-head with Brazil on Thursday.
Box scores:
Netherlands - Nimir 24, Gijs 12, Maarten 11, Twan 9, Fabian 8, Siebe 3, Junior 3, Wessel 2, Wouter 2, Silvester 1
Canada - Joseph 20, Nicholas 11, Pearson 8, Danny 7, Mathias 6, Luke 3, Timothy 1, Lucas 1, Samuel 1
Set scores: 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 25-18
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