Volleyball Canada – Mendoza, Argentina, June 01, 2019: Today Canada’s men’s team plays Portugal in Volleyball Nations League and will attempt to find its first win, after an opener loss Friday evening.

It was Bulgaria over Canada 3-1 (25-20, 26-24, 19-25, 25-17) in this VNL opener for both sides.

“We did some good things at times, but we are far from our best volleyball,” explained head coach Glenn Hoag. “We struggled with our offense. Our serve and block were decent but our defense wasn’t very good tonight. The team was disappointed, but we need to keep our focus on finding solutions. We have great potential.”

Bulgarian captain Nikolay Uchikov was the match top scorer with 27 points. Top scorer for Canada was Sharone-Vernon Evans with 22 points; followed by Graham Vigrass with 13.

“We have to work a lot of our offense and be more efficient. It’s only the start, we have a long way ahead, but it’s a very disappointing loss for our team. We have to play better in offense and defense as well, we just didn’t play well,” said Canada’s captain, Gord Perrin.

The last time Canada played Bulgaria it ended in a five-set win for Canada at the World Championships in 2018.
 
Full match stats, including highlights and photos are here:
https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl/men/schedule/10006-canada-bulgaria/post

The match against Portugal on Saturday June 01 is at 6 local, or 5 eastern time.
Web site: https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl

The following athletes and staff are on the roster for the first weekend:

Gordon Perrin, Creston, BC (Team Captain)
Steven Marshall, Abbotsford, BC
Justin Duff, Winnipeg, MB
Stephen Maar, Aurora, ON
Jason DeRocco, Winnipeg, MB
Sharone Vernon-Evans, Scarborough, ON
Lucas VanBerkel, Edmonton, AB
Eric Loeppky, Steinbach, MB
Ryan Sclater, Port Coquitlam, BC
Graham Vigrass, Calgary, AB
Blair Bann, Edmonton, AB
Arthur Szwarc, Toronto, ON
Brett Walsh, Calgary, AB
Adam Schriemer, Winnipeg, MB
 
Head coach: Glenn Hoag
Assistant coaches: Dan Lewis, Gino Brousseau
Statistician: Lionel Bonnaure
 
Physio: Tracy Blake
Strength coach: Michael Cook
Georges Laplante: Team manager
 
Please note the roster may change before Volleyball Nations League hits the Nation’s Capital, June 7 to 9, 2019 at the Arena at TD Place. Tickets still available www.tdplace.ca

Version française : https://volleyball.ca/fr/actualites/le-canada-eprouve-des-difficultes-dans-son-premier-match

Photo: FIVB

Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676