Gavin Schmitt led Canada to a 3-0 win over China on Saturday in World League action in front of his hometown crowd in Saskatoon. Canada won 25-21, 25-19, 25-17, with Schmitt’s smart serving leading the way.
“The tournament so far is going well, result wise anyway. We’re trying different guys because we have to make a selection at the end of World League for the Olympics,” said Canada’s coach Glenn Hoag.
“It was Gavin’s first match since Japan, and he’s a little rusty but he picked up his game and really helped us win this one.”
READ MORE: Darian Durant’s health key to Saskatchewan Roughriders resurgence in 2016
The first set saw Canada showing its poise in its second match up against China in World League pool play.
Smart attacking and powerful serves from Schmitt and Gordon Perrin gave Canada leads of 8-5 and 16-14 at the technical time outs. Unforced errors by the Chinese and a big block took Canada to victory in the set, winning 25-21.
Set No. 2 had the Canadians extend their winning ways as they continued to ride the strong play of their wing spikers. Leading the way, 8-4 and 16-12 at the technical time outs, the home team won set two with a little more urgency than that of the first, prevailing 25-19.
Canada continued to ride the energy of the crowd and jumped out to an 8-5 lead at the first technical time out of the third set. The Chinese squad could not find their composure or get on track as the Canadian team expanded their lead to 16-10 at the second technical time out and never looked back.
Schmitt scored the last two points of the set and the match and Canada won its fifth World League match, 25-17, to move to 5-0 in pool play.
WATCH BELOW: Gavin Schmitt leading men’s volleyball team to Rio Olympics
Top scorers of the match were Dai Qingyao with 11 points and Chen Longhai with seven in China’s losing effort; John Gordon Perrin and Schmitt had 13 points each in Canada’s victory.
“I thought we played well today, it was a really clean game,” Perrin said. “We started off making errors but then we controlled it after that and were able to win 3-0.”
Canada plays Portugal tomorrow to wrap up its World League hosting weekend.