June 21, 2024: Canada’s men’s team has won its third match in a row, shocking Brazil today 3-0 in Volleyball Nations League week three in Manila, Philippines.

• Canada 3 Brazil 0 (26-24, 25-19, 26-24)
• UPDATE: Canada will play in quarterfinals of VNL. See story here.

This win puts Canada in a position (7 wins, 4 losses with one match to go) in the Final 8 of VNL, and it’s the first time Canada’s men have defeated Brazil in VNL's history:

"Big, great win today; I’m happy about the consistency that we are showing and today it was a difficult game…. There was a lot of pressure from the service line and we managed to handle that well. We attacked with very few mistakes and then in important moments we made some very good decisions on attack,” explained Tuomas Sammelvuo, Canada’s head coach.

The team will, however, not rest on this win. "We have to improve our serving and we have another big game tomorrow. We must recover and get ready, but yes this was a big win."

Today Canada led in attack points (46-37), blocks (5-1), and serves (6-4), but did make more errors (25-20).

Outside hitter Eric Loeppky of Canada impressed with a match-high 21 points, that included 16 from attack, two blocks and three aces. Canadian teammates Stephen Maar and Arthur Szwarc had 12 and 11 points respectively. Opposite Darlan Ferreira Souza led Brazil with 12 points, including two of Brazil’s aces.

Canada plays Netherlands at 15:00 local time in Manila; 3 am ET on Saturday. This will wrap up VNL’s preliminary round for the men.

Standings: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-nations-league/standings/men/

Matches can be viewed at www.cbcsports.ca or VBTV. 

VNL Week 3
Luke Herr – Winnipeg, MB
Brett Walsh – Calgary, AB
Ryley Barnes – Edmonton, AB
Nicholas Hoag – Sherbrooke, QC
Eric Loeppky – Steinbach, MB
Stephen Maar – Aurora, ON 
Brodie Hofer – Langley, BC
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
Justin Lui – Pickering, ON

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 

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