July 16, 2023: Canada’s team closed off the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship in Manama, Bahrain, on Sunday with a 3-0 win over India to finish 11th overall in the tournament.
“I think the 11th place finish doesn’t necessarily show what we accomplished here, we finished this tournament with five wins and three losses. Other than the loss to Egypt, we played well and the team got better and learned a lot. I’m really proud of the boys, especially today against India,” said Canada’s U21 Coach Arnd (Lupo) Ludwig.
“When you play a team three times, it’s very difficult but we came out with energy and finally we picked up at 3-0 win.”
Today India attempted a late comeback with several set-point opportunities in the third, but Canada stayed composed to end it three (19-25, 21-25, 29-31). Canada led in attack points (40-35), the teams were even with 8 blocks and India led in aces (7-6). However, India gave up more points from errors (27-19).
Jacob Sargent led Canada in scoring today with 14 points, followed by Kaden Schmidt with 12. Outside hitter Aman Kumar of India led all scorers with 18 points (15 attacks, 1 block and 2 aces).
Canada had a difficult preliminary pool, losing to Bulgaria and Poland in its opening matches, but then won against India (in the first and second round), as well as Tunisia, and host country Bahrain. Canada lost the chance to play for a higher ranking when the team fell to Egypt 1-3 in the 9-12 playoff round.
“We played out hearts out,” said Sargent, Canada’s team captain. “It wasn’t the result that we were looking for, but It’s been an amazing experience and something we will remember for the rest of our lives.”
Matches continued on Sunday with Bulgaria beating Argentina for bronze; and Italy and Iran going for U21 gold later today. Sixteen countries participated in this age-group World Championship.
Full results and more info:
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/men-u21-world-championship-2023/
The matches are on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/videoFIVB
Roster
# 4 Mason Greves, Calgary, AB
# 2 Samuel Ludwig, Winnipeg, MB
# 5 Josh Jehle, St. Andrews, MB
#11 Cory Schoenherr, Waterloo, ON
#18 Jonah Dueck, Rosenort, MB
#9 Lucas Musschoot. Grenfell, SK
#1 Brendan Mills, London, ON
#12 Reeve Gingera, Calgary, AB
#13 Jacob Sargent, Lethbridge, AB
#7 Kaden Schmidt, Mississauga, ON
#10 Isaiah Mamer, Wilkie, SK
#16 Spencer Grahame, Selkirk, MB
Photo: VolleyballWorld
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
