Canada drops 3rd straight match in men's Volleyball Nations League with loss to Germany
Canada leaves Ottawa with 1-3 record, head to France for next VNL stop
Canada's men's national volleyball team wrapped up its time in the nation's capital on Sunday with a 3-1 loss to Germany (25-20, 17-25, 21-25, 21-25) in Volleyball Nations League play at TD Place in Ottawa.
Coming off a loss to the United States on Saturday night, Canada had hoped to leave Ottawa with a pair of wins but failed to hold off the Germans on Sunday, despite opening the match with a first-set win.
Canada finished the VNL stop in Ottawa with a single win over Cuba, followed by losses to Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Argentina, and three-time VNL medallists the United States before Sunday's effort against Germany.
WATCH | Canada falls to Germany in Ottawa:
Ryan Scaltar of New Westminster, B.C., led the Canadian scoring in the loss, putting up 15 attack points while adding a block point on a night that saw him lead the squad by four points. After leading the team scoring in Saturday's loss, Stephen Maar of Aurora, Ont., put up 12 points against Germany.
Canadian captain Nicholas Hoag, a native of Sherbrooke, Que., chipped in with nine points of his own.
"We made some execution mistakes. If you make them, it'll be very difficult to win these games. If we clean those up, we'll be able to win a few games this year and hopefully qualify for the Olympics. We have the potential. We just get to bring it out, and there are a lot of encouraging things," Hoag said in a release.
"The new coach [Tuomas Sammelvuo] brings a lot of energy and a lot of knowledge. He is one of the great coaches out there. It's great to have him here. We have not had much time together and the fact that we have new players on the team, it's going to take some time."
For Germany, the win ended a three-match winless streak to open its VNL campaign, as 24-year-old Tobias Brand put up 16 points to move the team into the win column for the first time in 2023. While Germany has a long road ahead of them, sitting at 1-3, with losses to the Netherlands, Brazil and Italy to complement their win, they moved past Canada in the standings into 13th place.
"It's clear we have to work on our attack. Also, there were four games over a short period of time. In the Olympic qualification in October, we will have seven games over a short period of time," Sammelvuo said. "We need to be in great shape. This is something we definitely have to think about and how to perform at a high level day by day. At this moment, the most important thing is to stay together. When it gets tougher, the team is tested."
The 2023 competition is the fifth edition, featuring the top 16 nations in the world. The top eight after the preliminary phase will compete for the title and medals at the VNL Finals in July in Gdańsk, Poland (July 19-23).
Also in action in Ottawa on Sunday, Argentina downed the Netherlands 3-2 in a tightly contested match (34-36, 25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 15-10), while Brazil pushed past the U.S. with a 3-1 victory (19-25, 25-21, 15-25, 21-25).
Canada heads to Orléans, France for its next set of VNL matches, taking on Japan on June 20 before facing Slovenia, Bulgaria and France.
WATCH | FIVB Men's Volleyball Nations League — Canada vs. Germany:
Canada roster
- Jay Blankenau — Sherwood Park, Alta.
- Landon Currie —Vernon, B.C.
- Danny Demyanenko — Toronto
- Mathias Elser — Calgary
- Pearson Eshenko — Banff, Alta.
- Luke Herr — Winnipeg
- Nicholas Hoag — Sherbrooke, Que.
- Brodie Hofer — Langley, B.C.
- Justin Lui — Pickering, Ont.
- Stephen Maar — Aurora, Ont.
- Jordan Schnitzer —Surrey, B.C.
- Ryan Sclater —Port Coquitlam, B.C.
- Arthur Szwarc — Toronto
- Lucas Van Berkel — Edmonton
