Canada opened the second week of men’s Volleyball Nations League action with a hard-fought victory over Cuba on Tuesday night at TD Place.
The 10th-ranked Canadian squad, coached by Tuomas Sammelvuo, has already qualified for next month’s Paris Olympics, but is trying to peak for the Summer Games by playing hard in Ottawa.
Canada beat ninth-ranked Cuba 25-21, 25-27, 25-20 and 28-26 to win the best-of-five match 3-1.
Eric Loeppky of Steinbach, Man., was Canada’s top scorer with 22 points, while Stephen Marr of Aurora, Ont., had 20 points.
Marlon Yant Herrera led Cuba with 23 points and Miguel Angel Lopez Castro added 18.
Canada will play Argentina on Thursday, followed by matches against the United States (Saturday) and Serbia (Sunday).
Also in Ottawa this week are national teams from Italy, France and Netherlands.
VNL matches carry extra importance this year as teams who have qualified for Paris 2024 are preparing for that tournament and other teams are still competing for a berth via rankings.
Canadian roster
- Luke Herr – Winnipeg
- Brett Walsh – Calgary
- Ryley Barnes – Edmonton
- Nicholas Hoag – Sherbrooke, Que.
- Eric Loeppky – Steinbach, Man.
- Stephen Maar – Aurora, Ont.
- Brodie Hofer – Langley, B.C.
- Pearson Eshenko – Banff, Alta.
- Fynn McCarthy – Lake Country, B.C.
- Danny Demyanenko – Toronto
- Lucas Van Berkel – Edmonton
- Xander Ketrzynski – Toronto
- Arthur Szwarc – Toronto
- Justin Lui – Pickering, Ont.
- Reserve: Jordan Schnitzer – Surrey, B.C.
- Reserve: Landon Currie – Coldstream, B.C.
