Press release

Doha, Qatar, October 10, 2011 – Canada’s Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver won their first match of the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship with a 25-23, 18-25, 17-25, 25-18, 15-6 victory over Paykan Tehran in Doha, Qatar.

Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver Captain Rudy Verhoeff: We're excited to be here. We had a lot of fun during the match and are obviously happy we've won. After the first set they raised their level of play and we we're not responding fast enough  until the fourth set. That is something we need to improve on for the remaining part of this competition.

Trinity Western Spartans Vancouver Coach Ben Josephson: I want to thank the Paykan team for this great match. It was tough for them to play three games in a row. Paykan responded very well after the first set, but our players had a lot of energy left and played with passion. Our block definitely made the difference. Our hands were in the right spot. Later in the game they neutralised our blocks, but after some changes we we're able to win this match after all.

Paykan Tehran Captain Hesam Bakhshesi: It wasn't a good day for us, for nobody in our team. We weren't able to stick to the game plan we were told. We must try to solve this problem. I don't think we've lost because we were tired, but we started training just 10 days before the start of this competion. And as you all know, 80 percent of our team has changed since last year, but we're doing better and better.

Paykan Tehran Coach Peyman Akbari: First of all I want to say congratulations to the Canadian team. I feel like I didn't lose the game on court, because I already lost this game during our training and warm-up. All because of my team's mentality. They didn't fight hard enough,  maybe because they think these games are too easy for them. It's fair to say that the Canadian team had to win this game. They played very good. I want to wish them good luck with the upcoming matches.

For additional information on the FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, click here. For more informaton on the FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, click here. For Daily Bulletins for the tournament, click here.