June 20: The race for the final 8 is heating up in men’s Volleyball Nations League, and Canada earned its second win of week three over Germany in the Philippines on Thursday.

The final score was Germany 0 Canada 3 (19-25, 18-25, 21-25).

Canada led in attacking (46-31), blocking (8-3) and ace serves (4-3), but also made a couple more errors than its opponent 20-18. Canadians Stephen Maar and Arthur Szwarc were top scorers – 15 points each. German outside hitter Moritz Karlitzek was his team's top scorer with 13.

"It was a great and important win – we played very, very well for two and a half sets; especially in attack," said Tuomas Sammelvuo, Canada’s head coach.

"There’s always something to learn and that’s how we handle moments of the game, such as the last part of the third set (when Germany attempted a comeback), which was a good lesson for us. How to stay focused and push on every rally. But it was great game in attack … now we recover and get ready for the next game."

Canada stands at six wins and four losses with two matches to go in the preliminary phase.

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

The next match is against powerhouse Brazil on Friday15:00 local time (3 am ET June 21).

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

VNL Week 3 - roster
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