Oct. 06, 2023: Canada made quick work of Bulgaria early Friday at the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament (OQT) Pool C in Xi’an, China.
Canada 3, Bulgaria 0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-18)
Against Bulgaria, Canada led in attacking, blocking and service points, but errors were equal at 20 apiece. Stats here: https://bit.ly/48SMRAC
Stephen Maar scored 16 points for Canada (on 12 attacks, 3 blocks and an ace). Teammate Eric Loeppky was next with 13 points (including a block and 2 aces) and Arthur Szwarc added 11 points.
Martin Atanasov led the Bulgarians in scoring with 9 points.
“We played quite a solid game, making very few mistakes in our attack,” said Canada’s head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo. “It’s a good result and now we will recover and concentrate on the next game.”
The Canadian team, sitting at 4-1 and in the running for the top-two qualifying positions, plays Belgium in less than 24 hours; Oct. 7 at 10 am local time; Oct. 6 at 10 pm ET. The final match for Canada is against Mexico on Sunday.
The round-robin tournament runs until October 8. Men’s Pool C includes Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland and hosts China will race for two spots at Paris 2024.
Previous Results:
(Oct. 04) CHN 0, CAN 3 (19-25, 22-25, 24-26).
(Oct. 03) POL 3, CAN 2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 20-25, 17-15).
(Oct. 01) ARG 1, CAN 3 (25-27, 22-25, 25-23,15-25).
(Sept. 29) NED 2, CAN 3 (21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 12-15).
For more on the qualification system, visit https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-olympic-qualifying-tournament/competition/qualification-system
Viewers’ guide
Web site
In Canada live streamed: www.cbcsports.ca
Worldwide (by subscription): VBTV
Men’s Roster (OQT)
1 Pearson Eshenko, Banff, AB
2 Luke Herr, Winnipeg, MB
4 Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC
5 Brodie Hofer, Langley, BC
6 Danny Demyanenko, Toronto, ON
7 Stephen Maar, Aurora, ON
8 Brett Walsh, Calgary, AB
12 Lucas Van Berkel, Edmonton, AB
13 Samuel Cooper, Hamilton, ON
14 Arthur Szwarc, Toronto, ON
16 Jordan Schnitzer, Surrey, BC
18 Justin Lui, Pickering, ON
20 Jordan Canham, Avonmore, ON
80 Eric Loeppky, Steinbach, MB
97 Landon Currie, Coldstream, BC
Staff:
Head Coach: Tuomas Sammelvuo
Assistant Coach: Joao Paulo Bravo
Assistant Coach: Michael Hawkins
Strength and Conditioning: Michael Cook
Athletic Therapist: Melissa Healy
Chiropractor: Abery Avender
Performance Analyst: Lionel Bonnaure
Team Manager: Cassandra Nicol
High-Performance Director: Julien Boucher
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
Photo: Volleyball World