May 24, 2024: Canada’s men’s team managed to control a young Bulgarian squad today for another win at Volleyball Nations League 2024 in Antalya, Türkiye.
Bulgaria put on a challenge each set, but was swept 0-3 (22-25, 28-30, 24-26).
Canada led in attacks (43-38), blocks (9-5), serves were even at five apiece, but Canada made slightly more errors 26-24. Eric Loeppky (14) and Stephen Maar (13) again led Canada’s scoring.
“It was a very tight game, and I’m proud of our team that in important moments we could close the sets in our favour,” said head coach, Tuomas Sammelvuo “To win 3-0 means a lot in rankings and for many other reasons. Of course, there are things that we need to do better and improve – for example, we missed too many serves today. But it’s been three early matches in three days, and we are handling that well. And now we will recover and get all our strength for tomorrow’s match against Slovenia.”
Team Canada’s Fynn McCarthy, making his VNL debut this year, told VBTV: “It’s been amazing…. It wasn’t an easy match for us, they gave us some pushback, but we worked through some difficult moments, which was great for the team. . .. It’s great to get this win.”
Bulgaria is currently ranked 20th in the world. Canada is ranked 12th and is already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics after the team’s second-place performance in the Olympic Qualifier pool last year.
Canada’s men’s team is now 2-1 in VNL, and its next match is Slovenia (6th). Matches can be viewed at www.cbcsports.ca
Week two brings the men’s team back to Canada for the Ottawa leg of VNL, from June 4 to 9 at the Arena at TD Place; and the Canadian men will play friendlies with Italy at the Centre Sportif de Gatineau on May 31 and June 01.
VNL Week 1
Luke Herr – Winnipeg, MB
Brett Walsh – Calgary, AB
Ryley Barnes – Edmonton, AB
Nicholas Hoag – Sherbrooke, QC
Eric Loeppky – Steinbach, MB
Stephen Maar – Aurora, ON
Pearson Eshenko – Banff, AB
Fynn McCarthy – Lake Country, BC
Danny Demyanenko – Toronto, ON
Lucas Van Berkel – Edmonton, AB
Xander Ketrzynski – Toronto, ON
Arthur Szwarc – Toronto, ON
Landon Currie – Coldstream, BC
Justin Lui – Pickering, ON
Reserve: Jordan Schnitzer – Surrey, BC
Staff:
Head coach: Tuomas Sammelvuo
Assistant coach: Joao Paolo Bravo
Assistant coach: Michael Hawkins
Strength and conditioning: Michael Cook
Performance analyst: Damian Musiak
Athletic therapist: Schad Richea
Chiropractor: Abe Avender
Team manager: Cassandra Nicol
Director, high performance: Julien Boucher
For VNL Ottawa media inquiries, including accreditation, please contact Jackie Skender.
For the VNL Coaching Symposium, register here.
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
