Sept. 13, 2025:  Shaking off early jitters, Canada clinched its opening win at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Manila, Philippines, early on Saturday.

The final score was 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-12, 29-27) over Libya, a team that hadn’t participated in the Worlds in 45 years.

"It was a really important win for us," said Canada's head coach Dan Lewis, "obviously because there are only four teams in the pool. We knew that Libya being the underdog they would take a lot of risks, they are good spikers and could play a bit freer. All the pressure was on us and I’m happy for the guys, they handled it really well even after going down the first set, nobody panicked, and it was like we had these tasks and to be patient with the block. We started to block and put on more service pressure. Then we were able to have two and a half quality sets.”

Canada faltered a bit on execution in the fourth, allowing a determined Libya to launch a comeback effort, but Canada managed to close the set in extra points, earning the win and three points.

"It was a good win to start. Those moments of stress are going to help us in the next couple of games . ... We’ve felt the pressure and stress of this pool already. Now we turn our focus towards Japan."

Returning after time away from the national team, 2020 Olympian Sharone Vernon-Evans was the match's top scorer with 22 points (16 kills, three blocks, three aces).

Canadian captain and outside hitter Nicholas Hoag, who is back with the team after not playing in Volleyball Nations League this year, also had a solid performance, contributing 20 points (15 kills, four aces, one block). Middle blockers Fynn McCarthy (with a standout six aces) and Daenan (Kofi) Gyimah added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

"I think everybody was a little bit nervous in the first set," Hoag told VBTV. "Libya play very aggressively, and if they can pass well, they're very difficult to stop. I'm glad we got the win, but we'll need to play better if we want to beat Japan in our next match."

Canada is in Pool G with Japan, Türkiye and Libya. Canada’s next match is against Japan on Sept. 15 at 2 pm local, 2 am EDT.

Also today, Türkiye upset higher ranked Japan with a 3-0 sweep and now tops Pool G after the opening match.

Matches will be live on VBTV and CBC Sports (in Canada).

Team Canada

Landon Currie, Coldstream, BC
Max Elgert, Athabasca, AB
Jesse Elser, Calgary, AB
Daenan (Kofi) Gyimah, Scarborough, ON
Luke Herr, Winnipeg, MB
Isaac Heslinga, Orangeville, ON
Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC (captain)
Jackson Howe, Calgary, AB
Xander Ketrzynski, Toronto, ON
Justin Lui, Pickering, ON
Fynn McCarthy, Lake Country, BC
Jordan Schnitzer, Surrey, BC
Sharone Vernon-Evans, Scarborough, ON
Jackson Young, Toronto, ON

Staff
Head Coach: Dan Lewis
Assistant Coach: João Paulo Bravo
Statistician: Lionel Bonnaure
Strength & Conditioning: Michael Cook
Athletic Therapist: Schad Richea
Chiropractor: Rémi Ouellette
Team Manager: Cassandra Nicol
High-Performance Director: Julien Boucher

Watch all matches on VBTV.

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676