Volleyball Canada – Tokyo, Japan, June 4, 2016 – Canada defeated Japan 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19) to keep hope alive for the final ticket to Rio 2016 at the Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Saturday.
 
Canada’s Gordon Perrin and Gavin Schmitt teamed-up on offense and topped all scorers with 22 and 18 points respectively. Justin Duff also helped on the Canadian offense with eight attacks and on defense with three of the team’s nine total blocks. Japan’s Kunihiro Shimizu scored 14 points, while Takashi Dekita, who played well in the middle, scored 12 points.
 
“This gives us a chance to play for qualification tomorrow,” explained Canada’s head coach Glenn Hoag. “I am very proud of the players, some of the bench players came in – Graham Vigrass and Steve Marshall – and did a great job, and Gavin and Gord stayed very focused.”

Japan opened the first set with a 5-3 lead, but Canada’s Justin Duff levelled the score at seven.  The Japanese, now out of Olympic contention and with nothing to lose, came out swinging to win the first set 25-23. But Perrin and Schmitt were no match for Japan’s defense in the second set, bringing the gap to 20-15. Duff sealed the set victory for Canada 25-19.
 
“I think in the first set, there was a little bit of nerves, playing in front of a big crowd in such a stressful environment was not easy, but we battled hard, found our rhythm and we were resilient,” said Canada’s captain Rudy Verhoeff. “We knew we needed to stay disciplined and just play our game.”
 
In the third, Canada gained a 20-17 advantage as their block toughened up on the Japanese attackers. Duff provided great hits from the middle that got the team closer to ending the set at 24-21, until Schmitt’s spike was blocked out at 25-21. Canada led at the start of the fourth set but Tatsuya Fukuzawa scored two consecutive points to tie the score at six. Canada took the lead back 11-8 with two excellent hits from Graham Vigrass. Shimizu botched a serve to give Canada a 20-16 margin. Eventually, a Vigrass spike delivered the match winner at 25-19.

“Japan fought really hard, as we expected them to do. Now we have to try to recover as fast as possible for the match tomorrow,” said Hoag.  “China has had a great tournament so far.  We studied them and we’re ready for them. I think our spirits are high and we will give it our all tomorrow for sure.” 

The WOQT is a round robin tournament: eight teams are competing in 28 games, with each country playing seven matches in as many days. The top-ranked Asian team and the top three ranked teams, four in total, will qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

• The full schedule can be found here: http://worldoqt.japan.2016.men.fivb.com/
• Live streaming of the Men’s Olympic Qualifier will be available on the FIVB You Tube channel:
  https://www.youtube.com/user/videoFIVB 

 
Canadian Roster:
#1  TJ Sanders, London, ON
#2  Gordon Perrin, Creston, BC
#3  Dan Lewis, Oakville, ON
#4  Nicholas Hoag, Sherbrooke, QC|
#5  Rudy Verhoeff, Calgary, AB
#6  Justin Duff, Winnipeg, MB
#8  Adam Simac, Ottawa, ON
#10 Toon Van Lankvelt, Rivers, MB
#11 Daniel Jansen Van Doorn, Langley, BC
#12 Gavin Schmitt, Saskatoon, SK 
#17 Graham Vigrass, Calgary, AB
#19 Blair Bann, Edmonton, AB
#21 Jay Blankenau, Sherwood Park, AB
#22 Steven Marshall, Abbotsford, BC
 
Staff in Japan:
Julien Boucher – Team Manager
Glenn Hoag – Head Coach
Larry McKay – Asst. Coach 
Vincent Pichette – Asst. Coach 
Murat Haktanir – Statistician 
Mathieu Seguin – Therapist 
Jean-Sebastien Hartell – Therapist 
Hikaru Ohtani – Team liaison  

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