Ottawa, ON (June 11, 2023) – Canada’s men’s team ended its first week of Volleyball Nations League action with a 1-3 (25-20, 17-25, 21-25, 21-25) loss to Germany on Sunday at Ottawa’s Arena at TD Place.
The German attack proved decisive in the match as both teams finished with one win and three losses. Canada’s win came over Cuba in five sets in their 2023 tournament debut.
Canada returned to the court today looking strong and built a 17-11 lead in the first set. Germany fought back, but the host country prevailed 25-20 in the opening set. The Europeans were determined to tie the game. Their attack found spaces on the Canadian court and defended well to build a 15-10 lead. They kept the momentum and went on to win 25-17.
Canada regained control of the match, led by Ryan Sclater in the attack, and built a five-point lead (15-10). Germany fought back and tied the score at 17 points. Left-handed opposite hitter Yan Böhme continued to launch powerful spikes and led his team to a 25-21 set win to take the lead.
Action remained even in the fourth set during the first half. With the score equal at 17 points, the German attack, led by Böhme and Tobias Krick, continued to find spaces on the Canadian side and built a 20-17 lead. Canada could not contain Germany’s offense, and they went on to win 25-21 and the match in four sets.
Ryan Sclater and Stephen Maar led Canada with 16 and 12 points, respectively. Tobias Brand (20 points) Böhme (19) were lethal from the German side.
“We made some execution mistakes. If you make them, it’ll be very difficult to win these games. If we clean those up, we’ll be able to win a few games this year and hopefully qualify for the Olympics. We have the potential. We just get to bring it out, and there are a lot of encouraging things,” commented Canada’s team captain Nicholas Hoag (Sherbrooke, QC).
“The new coach (Tuomas Sammelvuo) brings a lot of energy and a lot of knowledge. He is one of the great coaches out there. It’s great to have him here. We have not had much time together and the fact that we have new players on the team, it’s going to take some time,” he added.
Sammelvuo assessed today’s match: “It’s clear we have to work on our attack. Also, there were four games over a short period of time. In the Olympic qualification in October, we will have seven games over a short period of time…. We need to be in great shape. This is something we definitely have to think about and how to perform at a high level day by day. At this moment, the most important thing is to stay together. When it gets tougher, the team is tested.”
Ottawa has hosted VNL since 2018 (minus pandemic years). Nicholas Hoag commented on the home crowd. “I love it and I know the whole team loves it, too. Even the other teams when they see a crowd like that cheering for everyone else, not just the home team. I hope they keep having it in Ottawa. It’s very valuable to us.”
- Canada vs Cuba 3-2 (25-21, 26-28, 25-21, 22-25, 15-13)
Canada vs Argentina 1-3 (21-25, 25-21, 21-25, 16-25)
Canada vs USA 0-3 (22-25, 20-25, 20-25)
Canada vs. Germany 1-3 (25-20, 17-25, 21-25, 21-25)
Canada returns to the court in the second week of the tournament in France, where they will play Japan (June 20th), Slovenia, Bulgaria and the host team, the 2021 Olympic champions.
Also today in Ottawa, Argentina defeated Netherlands 3-2, and Brazil beat USA 3-1.
More results: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/vnl-2023/
Photo: VolleyballWorld
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
