Umag, Croatia, June 23, 2013 – In a rematch of the pool play on Friday Canada’s Grant O’Gorman and Aaron Nusbaum will meet Gustavo Carvalhaes and Allison Cittadin from Brazil again on Sunday in the final of the FIVB U21 World Championships in Umag.
O’Gorman and Nusbaum defeated Russia’s Viacheslav Kirienko and Dmitry Uraikin in two sets (21-11 21-15) in the semifinal. Brazil was too strong for Poland’s Maciej Kosiak and Maciej Rudol (21-19 21-19). O’Gorman and Nusbaum played a quick and energetic game against the Russians.
Both Canadians are defence players, and play together at the U21 because their partners are too old for this event. They showed great agility on centre court. “We have to move fast in the back of the court and when we get a chance we have to score”, O’Gorman said about their ‘arrangement’.
After a quick first set the Russians tried to come back in the second, but could not level at any time. At their second match point Nusbaum claimed the passage to the final with a shot down the line. “We just focused on our contacts, sticking to our game plan, serving tough along with that and executing the opportunities”, Nusbaum said. “And I think we had a slight advantage in this heat being smaller guys. We don’t get as tired as these bigger guys do.”
A good result for Canada
Silver or gold, it’s another good result for the Canadians in Umag, after they finished third in 2011 at the U19. Nusbaum: “These last few years Canadian youth and junior athletes are really stepping it up and having much better results and I hope we can add to that tonight.”
They played tonight’s opponents earlier in the tournament in pool play. “We lost a tight third set. We will look at some video’s, drop a tight game plan and stick to what we do best, which is ball control and executing opportunities.”
Brazil’s Guto Carvalhaes and Allison had to go a little further against Poland’s 2011 U19 world champion Maciej Kosiak and his partner Maciej Rudol. Kosiak had the chance to take the match into a tiebreak at 19-19 but went for a safe shot. On the following match point for Brazil Rudol hit the ball out.
“It was a tight game, a game of details”, Allison said. “Both teams played well, but in the end we succeeded, thank god” For the 19-year old player this is his first trip abroad, Guto Carvalhaes finished fifth last year at the U21 in Halifax. “Match by match we gained experience and got more comfortable. And now we are on our way to reach our best level.”
All the way from qualification
Guto Carvalhaes and Allison have come all the way from qualification in this tournament. “We played a lot of matches here, more than the other teams in the final. In this hot weather it was really difficult”, Guto said. Allison: “Where we train in Brazil it’s also very hot, but we still had to adjust. But we feel really welcome her, people are warm and we feel right at home.”
About their Canadian opponents Allison said: “It was a tough game in the pool, but we beat them. They are very good players, but we are confident we can win this.”
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