Oct. 01, 2023: Canada earned its second win in as many days at the Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament (OQT) Pool C in Xi’an, China.

Today, the team took down higher ranked Argentina, also the 2020 Olympic bronze medalists, in four sets.

Argentina 1, Canada 3 (25-27, 22-25, 25-23,15-25). Stats: https://bit.ly/3PXStln

"In the first set, we started slow, but we came back to the game rally by rally and won the first set, which was important as that gave us a lot of confidence," explained Canada’s head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo. "And then when we lost the third set, it did not affect our game in any way. So bravo to the guys for that! We will keep calm, focus on getting better with each game, recover and have energy for the next matches."

As with the opening match against Netherlands, which Canada won in five sets, Canada's top producers on offense were Stephen Maar (16 points), Arthur Szwarc (16 points) and Eric Loeppky (15 points, which included two blocks and two aces). Overall, Argentina led in attack points 51-47 and aces 6-5, but gave up more points to errors (38-25). Canada's block was more effective (10-5). 

Bruno Lima was the top scorer for Argentina with 14 points.

Canada, 2-0, plays its next match on Oct. 03 against the number-one ranked Poland.

With today’s match, Canada is ranked 13th overall; Argentina drops to seventh.

The tournament runs until October 8. Men’s Pool C includes Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland and hosts China will race for two spots at Paris 2024.
 
Previous Results:
(Sept. 29) Netherlands 2 Canada 3 (21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 12-15)

For more on the qualification system, visit  https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-olympic-qualifying-tournament/competition/qualification-system
 
This tournament followed the women’s OQT, which also saw Canada beat Netherlands in five sets on the opening day and have a solid tournament despite just missing out on qualification, only one point behind the second-place finisher, Serbia. Dominican Republic won the pool.
 
Viewers’ guide

Web site
In Canada live streamed: www.cbcsports.ca
Worldwide (by subscription): VBTV

Men’s Roster (OQT)
1 Pearson Eshenko, Banff, AB
2 Luke Herr, Winnipeg, MB
4 Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC
5 Brodie Hofer, Langley, BC
6 Danny Demyanenko, Toronto, ON
7 Stephen Maar, Aurora, ON
8 Brett Walsh, Calgary, AB
12 Lucas Van Berkel, Edmonton, AB
13 Samuel Cooper, Hamilton, ON
14 Arthur Szwarc, Toronto, ON
16 Jordan Schnitzer, Surrey, BC
18 Justin Lui, Pickering, ON
20 Jordan Canham, Avonmore, ON
80 Eric Loeppky, Steinbach, MB
97 Landon Currie, Coldstream, BC
 
Staff:
Head Coach: Tuomas Sammelvuo
Assistant Coach: Joao Paulo Bravo
Assistant Coach: Michael Hawkins
Strength and Conditioning: Michael Cook
Athletic Therapist: Melissa Healy
Chiropractor: Abery Avender 
Performance Analyst: Lionel Bonnaure
Team Manager: Cassandra Nicol
High-Performance Director: Julien Boucher

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