Volleyball Canada – Mendoza, Argentina (June 02, 2019) : Canada came out on top of an exciting battle against the home-crowd favourites, Argentina, in the final match of the first men’s Volleyball Nations League weekend.
 
The final score was 3-1 (25-21, 29-27,16-25, 26-24).
 
The teams were almost equal in most areas, with Canada having the edge in blocking and the ability to close sets. Ryan Sclater was overall top scorer with 21 points, and Stephen Maar contributed 18 points for Canada. Federico Pereyra had 20 for the host team.
 
“We played a solid match tonight. It was a great team effort as Argentina was also playing really well,” said Glenn Hoag, Canada’s head coach. “Our block defense was outstanding and (setter) Brett Walsh conducted a very good offense. I thought that Lucas Van Berkel and Ryan Sclater brought some fresh energy, and were very solid in their performance tonight. We are now moving home for the Ottawa event, and we will keep working to improve all aspects of our game.”

Canada opened with a loss to Bulgaria on Friday, and a win over Portugal Saturday. 

“We continued to improve game by game, which is very satisfying,” Gord Perrin, team captain, said of the matches in Argentina. “This was by far our best game of the weekend. Our offense has made a major improvement and we played very well on defense. Unfortunately, we let the first match (against Bulgaria) slip, but day by day we are finding our game again. We look forward to Ottawa next weekend!”

Matches next weekend will be available at www.cbcsports.ca, and Canada vs Australia will be on CBC TV, tape delayed on Saturday.

Volleyball Nations League sees the team travelling around the globe, with the finals ending up in the US next month. Canada hosts next weekend as the men take on Australia, Germany and Serbia on familiar ground at the Arena at TD Place in Ottawa.

Full match stats, including highlights and photos are here:
https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl/men/schedule/10023-argentina-canada/post

Web site: https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl

First weekend roster:

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

Photo: FIVB

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