June 11, 2025: Canada opened men’s week 1 of men's Volleyball National League with a 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-11), five-set win over Germany in front of a home crowd at the Vidéotron Centre in Quebec City, Quebec.

It was a hard-fought battle from the opening serve. Canada dropped the first set but battled back to tie it up in the second. While Germany took the third set and an early lead in the fourth (7-2 at one point), Canada rallied to close out the tight match with wins in the final two sets.

"I'm just so incredibly proud of this group,” head coach Dan Lewis said. “(They) haven't been together too long, like most of the teams, but we were down in multiple sets, and we lost one that maybe we shouldn't have early on.

"But they never lost their focus, and they just kept forward, going forward, pushing through. And this is going to be a big thing for us.”

Jackson Young led the way for the Canadians with 17 points and an impressive 26.32 efficiency percentage. Veteran Ryan Sclater also had 17 points. Brodie Hofer led the team in points off the attack with 14 (and 2 aces) while team captain Fynn McCarthy in blocks with five.

"We just made one little change,” Lewis continued. “We had to take a bit more risk on serve, and the guys just started touching balls, touching the block, and the block defense really came together nicely.

"And if we had a hiccup, it didn't faze this team at all. So, I'm really proud of them. Fynn (team captain) is sending good messaging to the guys about this and we're going to make sure that this is a first principle for us."

Canada’s next game is against Argentina on June 12 at 8:00pm ET.

The Volleyball Nations League introduced a new format in 2025 with 18 men’s and 18 women’s teams. Each team will play 12 preliminary phase matches over three weeks, with weekly pools of six teams competing across three venues.

VNL Week One Roster (Men)
1 - Daenan Gyimah – Middle Blocker – Scarborough, ON
2 - Luke Herr – Setter – Winnipeg, MB
3 - Jesse Elser – Outside Hitter – Calgary, AB
5 - Brodie Hofer – Outside Hitter – Langley, BC
8 - Mason Greves – Setter – Calgary, AB
9 - Matthew Neaves – Opposite – Calgary, AB
10 - Ryan Sclater – Opposite – Port Coquitlam, BC
11 - Xander Ketrzynski – Opposite – Toronto, ON
13 - Max Elgert – Setter – Edmonton, AB
15 - Jackson Young – Outside Hitter – Toronto, ON
16 - Jordan Schnitzer – Middle Blocker – Surrey, BC
18 - Justin Lui – Libero – Pickering, ON
22 - Isaac Heslinga – Outside Hitter – Orangeville, ON
26 - Cory Schoenherr – Middle Blocker – Waterloo, ON
33 - Fynn McCarthy – Middle Blocker – Lake Country, BC (Captain)
97 - Landon Currie – Libero – Coldstream, BC
99 - Skyler Varga – Outside Hitter – Muenster, SK

Link for tickets.

Global tournament web site: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-nations-league/

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