Volleyball Canada  – Brno, Czech Republic, June 29, 2017 – Canada, led by the solid blocking of Taryq Sani, managed to come back from a two-set deficit against Argentina for the 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-11) victory today. Canada finishes third in Pool F of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship.
 
“We are very happy with the performance –  the guys fought hard and they never gave up,” said Canada’s coach Gino Brousseau. “It was not an easy match because Argentina is a very skilled team and we knew they were going to keep the ball alive. We are happy to have a day off tomorrow because the guys are getting tired and injured, which is normal at this stage of the competition.”

Taryq Sani and Deanan Gyimah scored five kill blocks each out of the team’s 14 overall. Sani was also the best scorer of the match with 25 points. Eric Loeppky added 22, while Juan Horacio Bucciarelli was Argentina’s most prolific player with 20 points.
 
Argentina was on the offensive in the first two sets to give the South Americans a solid lead after 25-23 and 25-21. With coach Gino Brousseau’s substitutions working out well for the team, and Canada’s stable blocking performance, the momentum of the match changed. The North Americans took the third and the fourth by the same score – 25-22, to set the stage for a decisive fifth. Sani alone contributed six points to the 15-11 win in the tie-break set.
 
The win today was welcome after Canada’s tough “round of eight” pool matches that included a loss to Brazil 1-3 (15-25, 25-19, 23-25,16-25). Yesterday, Russia got the better of Canada 3-1 (28 – 26, 25 – 27, 25 – 21, 25 – 13). Canada finishes third in this second-round pool and plays for places 5 to 8. 

With photo and reports from FIVB.com

Travelling roster
Mikael Clegg; St. Andrews, MB; (University of Winnipeg) – Setter
Jesse Elser; Calgary, AB (FTC – Team Canada) – Left Side
Derek Epp; Saskatoon, SK; (University of Saskatchewan) – Setter
Daenan Gyimah; Scarborough, ON (UCLA Bruins) – Middle
Joel Rudd; Cambridge, ON (Queen’s University) – Left Side 
Eric Loeppky; Steinbach, MB (Trinity Western University) – Left Side
Matthew Mawdsley; London, ON (University of Waterloo) – Middle
Fynn McCarthy; Lake Country, BC (Kelowna Volleyball Club) – Middle
Matthew Passalent; Hamilton, ON (McMaster University) – Right Side
Jordan Pereira; St. Catharines, ON (McMaster University) – Libero
Taryq Sani; Ajax, ON (University of Alberta) – Left Side
Max Vriend; Barrhead, AB (MacEwan University) – Middle
 
Staff:
Paul Gratton; Orléans, ON – Team Manager 
Gino Brousseau; Quebec City, QC – Head Coach
Adam Simac; Ottawa/Toronto, ON – Assistant Coach
Francois St-Denis; Ottawa, ON – Assistant Coach
Daniel Cuzmar Grimalt; Quebec City, QC – Statistician
Jennifer Martins; Waterloo, ON. – Therapist
Murat Haktanir – Statistician 

• FIVB World U21 website: http://u21.men.2017.volleyball.fivb.com 

Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender
E-mail: jskender@volleyball.ca
Phone: 613.794.7676