Aug. 03, 2021:  Canada ended its Olympic run with a 0-3 (21-25, 28-30, 22-25) loss to the team of the Russian Olympic Committee today in Tokyo. Canada finishes between fifth and eighth (TBD) at Tokyo 2020. Russia is ranked third in the world ranking and Canada is currently at tenth in the world. 

The Canadian team is a mix of veterans and first-time Olympians. "They are a really special group and I’ve seen them grow over time... the players have given us a big part of their lives and they committed to this like I’ve never seen a group commit," said head coach Glenn Hoag. "It’s a disappointment for sure for us, but I’m so proud of them; you cannot be more proud."

Veteran and captain Gord Perrin was the most efficient attacker after pool play with an efficiency rate of 45.16%, and he led scoring today with 15 points. "It took us a while to adjust to the serving and blocking of Russia - we knew that was their strong suit going into the game, but in the first set we just started too slow and by the time we were starting to play they had some good momentum going."

Canada had finished fourth in Pool A with a 2-3 record, while the ROC won Pool B with four wins and one loss.
 
"I’m excited to build on what we’ve done here. We have to trust that we have things going in the right direction," said first-time Olympian Ryan Sclater. "For this game today, it didn’t feel like there was anything that we needed to do that was impossible for us... it was really within our grasp, and that’s tough to know that. In volleyball it will always come down to a game of serve and pass, and they served aggressively and got some good results, and it really felt like we were just on the verge of breaking through. We were applying some pressure and it almost crossed over that threshold, but they held on well."

The Olympic men’s tournament continues with semi-finals on Aug. 05.

Beach Quarters Today (Aug. 03)
The beach teams of Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, ON) and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto, ON) and Heather Bansley (Waterdown, ON) and Brandie Wilkerson (Toronto, ON) both play in quarterfinals tonight in Tokyo (morning in Canada). Here’s the schedule: https://bit.ly/36V1Mv5
 
Here’s how to keep track of the action:  
https://volleyball.ca/en/tokyo-2020-viewer-s-guide

Follow along with the National Volleyball Teams
CBC Sports is the official Olympic and Paralympic broadcaster and the hub for volleyball action.

• Follow along here: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/volleyball 
  View the CBC live streaming schedule here: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/streaming-schedule 
  For more on Tokyo 2020: https://olympic.ca/games/2020-tokyo/
  Olympic schedule: https://olympic.ca/tokyo-2020-olympic-schedule/ 
  Paralympic news: https://paralympic.ca 
   
  Media contact: 
  Jackie Skender: jskender@volleyball.ca
  In Japan: +81 8025873061

Contact in Canada:
Courtney Killion: courtney@volleyball.ca 

PHOTO: FIVB