Hiroshima, Japan, September 12, 2015 - The momentum from Japan's win helped carry the side to victory in their clash with Canada according to coach Masashi Nambu.
Japan coach Masashi Nambu: "We had a winning mood from the Australia match that continued today. We had an issue with our middle block previously that we were able to fix. I have a tangible feeling of improvement for the team. But we must still aspire higher. We earned a lot of block today but must correct serves for tomorrow's match. Service is a great factor in our game. Yamauchi was outstanding today with his spikes. We have been aiming well on our float serves. We did good against Australia. I told them to make it strong and not lose. However, we still put too many serves into the net today."
Canada coach Glenn Hoag: "Japan has had a great tournament. They outplayed us in all aspects - serve, serve receptions, blocks. I need to look at the reasons why and try to improve for our next game."
Japan captain Kunihiro Shimizu: "We had a meeting and got the analysis that Canada was strong with high blocks. From the beginning we tried to reduce our mistakes to a minimum. Their service made our reception a little off but we recovered. Our float serve was good. The team atmosphere is good now. Our young players are showing potential. Winning will give us more confidence."
Japan player Akihiro Yamauchi: "Our float serve was strong. Our blocks centered around No. 2. That was our plan. I don't think much about technique when spiking, I just hit the ball."
Japan player Hideomi Fukatsu: "We had some rest yesterday and fought as one today and that is why we could win as one. We made a small number of mistakes and this is why we got the victory."
Canada captain Frederic Winters: "We knew Japan looked improved from the last time we played them. They are well organised and spike hard. We seem to do one good play and then one bad play. It was embarrassing to me to lose like that in front of all of those people."