Seven Spartans Named to Canada’s 14-man VNL Roster

LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western University’s men’s volleyball program will make up half of Canada’s roster for the first week of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), which kicks off for the men on June 7 at the Arena at TD Place in Ottawa. 

The TWU contingent includes current Spartans Brodie Hofer (Langley), Mathias Elser (Calgary) and Jesse Elser (Calgary), alongside graduates Jackson Howe (’22, Calgary), Pearce Eshenko (’20, Banff, Alta.), Ryan Sclater (’17, Port Coquitlam, B.C.) and Lucas Van Berkel (’14, Edmonton). 

https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/vnl-2022/ 

“The group of men we’ve chosen to represent Canada at the Ottawa leg of the VNL is a great blend of experience, physicality, and skill,” explains Canada head coach Ben Josephson, who is in his first year as head coach of Team Canada.

“The selection of this roster was incredibly hard due to the depth of talent we have in Canada right now. It is exciting that we have so many athletes who are ready and capable of ‘repping the leaf’ on the VNL stage. We cannot wait to see how this group’s preparation these past weeks will translate into performance in Ottawa in front of our amazing Canadian volleyball fans as we kick off this new era of Canadian men’s volleyball.”

The roster includes five Olympians from the Tokyo Games (Jay Blankenau, Stephen Maar, Nicholas Hoag, Sclater and Van Berkel), and a mix of up-and-coming talent and familiar faces.

The men’s teams playing in Ottawa at the Arena at TD Place include Canada, Poland, France (Olympic gold medalists), Serbia, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Bulgaria. This will be the first major event for Canada since the Olympics in Tokyo. Each team plays four of the six days. More info and tickets here: https://www.tdplace.ca/event/volleyball-nations-league/ 

The FIVB’s Volleyball Nations League (VNL) is a flagship annual volleyball event that was established in 2018. The new format of the competition will see 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams competing in pools of eight teams during the pool phase.

The event is streamed at www.cbcsports.ca (https://www.cbc.ca/sports) and VBTV.

Roster (Week 1)
Jay Blankenau, Sherwood Park, AB
Brett Walsh, Calgary, AB
Ryan Sclater, Port Coquitlam, BC
Brodie Hofer, Langley, BC
Stephen Maar, Aurora, ON
Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC
Ryley Barnes, Edmonton, AB
Mathias Elser, Calgary, AB
Justin Lui, Pickering, ON
Lucas Van Berkel, Edmonton, AB
Pearce Eshenko, Banff, AB
Jackson Howe, Calgary, AB
Marc Wilson, Stratford, ON
Jesse Elser, Calgary, AB

Staff (Week 1)
Head coach: Ben Josephson
Assistant coach: Joe Trinsey
Assistant coach: Stefan Hübner
Athletic therapist: Jovana Smoljanic
Strength and conditioning : Michael Cook
Statistician: David Dantes
Team manager: Julien Boucher

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women’s and men’s soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women’s rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men’s rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 31 Canada West team championships.

About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in CIS sports. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.  

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