Volleyball Canada – June 26, 2017 – Canada advanced at the 19th edition of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 World Championship in Brno and Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic. The top eight teams are now split into two pools and resume play on Tuesday (July 27).
 
Canada finished second to Poland in their first-round pool.
 
“We have mixed emotions,” said Canada’s head coach, Gino Brousseau, after a 3-0 (31-29 25-23, 25-20) loss to Poland on Sunday. “I think we played well the first two sets, but on the other side we had our chances to close those two sets and we didn’t. I was not happy about the start in the third set…. I made some subs and we came back. We knew Poland was a good team, but overall I am satisfied of our performance.” 
 
Canada is now in a pool with Argentina, Brazil and Russia, traditionally strong volleyball nations.
 
“If we look back at the first round of the tournament, we are happy because we made the top eight. The team is progressing, which is very important for us, but it will be very challenging because now we are facing very strong teams,” said Brousseau. 
 
The top two teams from Pools E (China, Cuba, Iran and Poland) and F (Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Russia) will qualify for the semifinals and finals, with the bottom two facing off in a playoff to be classified from fifth to eighth.

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