Canadian men drop round of 16 match to Ukraine at sitting volleyball worlds
Canada's women's squad set to take on Hungary in round of 16
The Canadian men's sitting volleyball team fell to Ukraine in four sets in their round of 16 match at the 2022 World ParaVolley Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Ukrainians opened the match with a 25-21 win in the first set, then trading two-point victories with Canada (25-23, 23-25, 26-24) to claim the 3-1 tightly contested victory.
"We showed today that we deserve to be a top-eight team," said Canadian head coach Jeff Smith to Volleyball Canada. "We executed a precise game plan against the seventh-place team in the world. Our goal was to showcase our talent and today's match did just that.
"Despite coming out with the 3-1 loss, our drive for success kept us in each match. We came here wanting to be top 10 and plan on doing so."
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SittingVolleyball?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SittingVolleyball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sarajevo2022?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sarajevo2022</a> Day/Jour 4 Result/résultat <a href="https://twitter.com/ParaVolley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ParaVolley</a> <a href="https://t.co/ICOwXy2htB">pic.twitter.com/ICOwXy2htB</a>
—@VBallCanadaSmith credited Bryce Foster and José Rebelo's serving skills in the clutch for Canada's competitive play.
The No. 6-ranked Canadian women's team finished second in its pool with a 2-1 record and will next play Hungary on Tuesday with a quarter-final spot on the line.
All matches are being streamed live on World ParaVolley's YouTube channel.
Canada men's roster
- #2 Mikael Bartholdy — Calgary
- #3 Austin Hinchey — Edmonton
- #5 Nasif Chowdhury — Toronto
- #6 Bryce Foster — Thunder Bay, Ont.
- #7 Douglas Learoyd (C) — Calgary
- #9 Andrew Tucker — Brampton, Ont.
- #10 Christopher Bird — Brandon, Man.
- #11 José Rebelo — Saint-Hubert, Que.
- #13 Dariusz Symonowicz — Toronto
- #14 Connor Compton — Calgary
- #19 Jason Beaman — Vancouver
Canada women's roster
- #2 Julie Kozun — Melfort, Sask.
- #3 Danielle Ellis (C) — White Rock, B.C.
- #4 Jennifer Oakes — Calgary
- #5 Payden Vair — Cardston, Alta.
- #6 Angelena Dolezar — St. Albert, Alta.
- #7 Anne Fergusson — Carleton Place, Ont.
- #8 Jolan Wong — Vermilion, Alta.
- #9 Sarah Melenka — Vegreville, Alta.
- #10 Jayme Lepp — Vancouver
- #11 Heidi Peters — Neerlandia, Alta.
- #14 Katelyn Wright — Edmonton
- #15 Felicia Voss-Shafiq — Burnaby, B.C.
- #16 Jennifer McCreesh — Smithers, B.C.
- #17 Allison Lang — Edmonton
