Ottawa, June 09 - After their opening win on home court on Tuesday over Cuba, Canada was stopped by Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Argentina in four sets on Friday (21-25, 25-21, 21-25,16-25) in the first week of Volleyball Nations League action in Ottawa today.

The opening set stayed even with the score tied at 16 points. Argentina’s solid defense and attack gave them the upper hand as they secured the win 25-21.

The South American squad kept the momentum early in the second set, but the hosts fought back and erased a three-point deficit to reach 12 points by side. Stephen Maar (Aurora, ON) and Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, BC) produced two aces to pave the way for a 25-21 win to tie the game.

The on-court battle remained even throughout the third set. With the score equal at 19, Argentina displayed a strong block, defense, and attack to claim victory 25-21.

The Olympic bronze medallists kept the momentum in the fourth set. The attack and defense proved decisive as they built a sizable lead and went on to seal the set and match victory 25-16.

For Canadian head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo: "we need consistency at this level and Argentina is a great example of what this means. They made very few mistakes, but we fought and defended a lot. Technically, we have to improve, especially in our attack. Today, we were receiving better than our opponent. We should still get our game a bit more targeted.... We made too many mistakes in our attack today. That’s something we really have to improve.

"It’s a matter of understanding who we are, how we have to play, what kind of team we are. … The spirit is there,” he added.

Captain Nicholas Hoag of Sherbrooke, Quebec, commented: “Overall, we were not bad. We had some ups and lots of down unfortunately. We are trying to get that consistency that we need. We collapsed a little bit in the third set and that carried on in the fourth set, especially with a team like Argentina.

Even though they were tired after playing five sets (Thursday with Brazil), they still have that technical quality to win those games. If you give them a centimetre, they’ll take a mile."

On the opportunity to play on home soil, “we had a chance to start (VNL) in Ottawa last year as well and it’s always fun to see fans coming out. The fact that we have it every year, the fans know, appreciate it and want to come back every year. Tonight (Friday) was amazing and tomorrow (Saturday) is going to be as good if not better. Tomorrow will be another tough game (against the USA), more physical on their side. It’s always fun to play against them. We play them every summer and it’s always a good battle."

Streaming schedule: 

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-schedule

For more on the competition formula:

https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/vnl-2023/competition/formula

Photo: VolleyballWorld

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