By Canadian Press

Canada falls to Belgium at men’s volleyball Olympic qualifier tournament

Oct 7, 2023 | 8:44 AM

XI’AN — Canada dropped a four-set loss (14-25, 25-22, 28-30, 16-25) to Belgium on Saturday to fall to 4-2 at the men’s volleyball Olympic qualification tournament.

Belgium led in attack points (55-50) and blocking points (18-7), and made fewer errors (21-27) than Canada,

Belgium’s veteran captain Sam Deroo paced the attack with 20 points. Stephen Maar, of Aurora, Ont., led Canada with 19 points, while Eric Leoppky, of Steinbach, Man., had 14.

“Today Belgium was a lot better than us,” said Canadian coach Tuomas Sammelvuo. 

“We came into the game just waiting to see what would happen, not being aggressive enough especially in our attacking, but when we came back in the second set, we then created the opportunities to take the third set and that would have meant a lot … but we didn’t make the most of the opportunities and Belgium deserved to win.”

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The loss dropped Canada (4-2) to third place in Pool C behind undefeated Poland (6-0), and pushed Belgium (4-2) into second with one match to go. 

Only the top two countries from each of the tournament’s three pools will advance to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Canada plays its final match against Mexico (0-6) on Sunday. Belgium will meet Bulgaria (3-3).

“The tournament is not over. We have to do our maximum against Mexico and see what happens in the other games,” said Sammelvuo.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2023.

The Canadian Press