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Team Canada lost in straight sets to Germany, but leaves the men’s world championship after an impressive victory against one of the favourites teams

By Sidronio Henrique

Dustin Schneider setting for Canada. Photo: Courtesy FIVB

After beating Serbia, in the major upset of the tournament so far, Canada faced a strong Team Germany hoping to get one of the spots to the next phase. Although the Canadian boys played better than in the first match against Poland, today what we saw was different from the fast-paced team that defeated the Serbians. Team Canada had its chance in the first set, but they missed two set points, and the Germans took advantage of that. Final score: Germany 3-0 (27-25, 25-22 and 25-20), in the city of Trieste.

Canada’s line-up was the same as yesterday, with Fred Winters and Toon Van Lankvelt (left side), Gavin Schmitt (right side), Adam Simac and Louis-Pierre Mainville (middle), and Dustin Schneider (setter). The match was seen by 4,100 people at the Palatrieste. Canada, Germany, Poland and Serbia are in pool F. Three teams qualify to the next round.

Team Canada started well, opening a 6-3 advantage on the score, leading by 8-6 on the first technical timeout. Germany had a slow start. With their main star injured, the middle Stephan Hübner, one of the best players in the world in his position, the Germans relied especially on their right side, György Grozer, a power hitter who drove  the Polish crazy on the day before, when the Germans lost in the fifth set. Against Canada, Grozer was merciless. Some passing mistakes made at the end gave Germany the opportunity they needed, closing the set in 27-25, in 31 minutes.

The second set begun with a change for Canada, as Dallas Soonias subbed-in Gavin Schmitt. Again, the Canucks put some pressure and controlled the score in the beginning, but the flaws in reception appeared, and Germany was ahead in the first technical timeout by 8-6. This set was a portrait of the difference that separates the elite (though the Germans haven’t got there yet) from good squads. Several times Canada was able to tie the score, but some silly mistakes, perhaps as a result of the low international experience and little time playing together, ruined chances for the North-Americans, allowing the Europeans another triumph, this time 25-22, in 27 minutes.

The third and final set had probably some of lowest technical level moments of the tournament. Poorly played rallies, with lots of free balls, were seen many times – that ‘Mikasa’ deserved more respect. Ahead by 15-14, with an unexpected block by the short Dustin Schneider, Canada said goodbye soon, never leading again, hit by its own mistakes. Germany closed the set in 25-20, in 28 minutes.

During most of the match the Canadian serve wasn’t effective. Without a good serve, it’s almost impossible to block in modern volleyball – the Germans also had a bad time blocking, but their attack was more efficient than Canada’s.

Team Canada said goodbye to the world championship after having the bad luck to be in the strongest pool. Weaker squads are advancing to the next phase. The good news is the victory over a powerhouse like Serbia may bring more attention and respect to the Canadian players in the volleyball world.

Volleyball

Canada was responsible for the first major upset of the men’s world championship, held in Italy, beating Serbia in four sets

By Sidronio Henrique

Winters hits against the Serbians. Photo: Courtesy FIVB

Serbia’s head coach, Igor Kolakovic, should have been more respectful. When Team Serbia stepped into the court at the Palatrieste, in Trieste, their two main players, Olympic champions Nikola Grbic (setter) and Ivan Miljkovic (right side), weren’t in the line-up, although they were very fit physically. Canada was seen as the underdog in pool F, where Poland, Serbia and Germany seemed to have captured the three berths to the next phase even before the tournament started. However, Canada fought against its fate showing consistency the team lacked yesterday, with ball control and variation, swept the bad predictions. Canada won by 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 17-25 and 25-23).

A crowd of 6,500 people attended the match in Trieste, a great number of them were Serbians. The Italian volleyball fans appeared to sympathize with Canadian squad. The Canucks came from a defeat against Poland (0-3), while the Serbians had dismantled Germany (3-0).

The first set started with one change in the line-up for Canada. The back-up setter Dustin Schneider replaced Josh Howatson, who had a tumbling presentation versus Poland yesterday. The Serbians were without their legends, but still looking very confident. After all, without Grbic and Miljkovic, they managed to get a bronze medal recently at the World League – third year in a row on the podium. The last time Canada and Serbia faced each other during an official match the Europeans left the court with a smashing victory in straight sets, in the last world championship, not allowing the Canadians to get even 20 points in each set. Today, Canada quickly took control of the game, leading by 8-5 on the first technical timeout. Schneider showed ability, making the Serbian block confused, and Team Canada reached the second technical timeout ahead, 16-13. Gavin Schmitt (right side), Fred Winters (left side) and Louis-Pierre Mainville (middle) were the main weapons in attack on the first set. Canada closed the set 25-20.

On the second set, the scenario seemed unaltered. When Canada was leading by 5-3, the Serbian coach had to call stars Grbic and Miljkovic. The European squad was making a lot of mistakes, definitely playing below the expectation, struggling in reception and in attack. With the changes, they improved, and by the second technical timeout Serbia was ahead, 16-14. Not enough to stop Canada though. Mainville had his momentum hitting and blocking, putting Canada on the lead by 19-17. The Serbians resisted and tied the score, but with an amazing block over Miljkovic left side Toon Van Lankvelt scored the 21^st point, while Serbia remained with 19. From there, Canada controlled the nerves and closed the set 25-22.

The third set was a disaster to Canada. Too many mistakes in attack and in reception by Team Canada made things easier to Serbia.  The Europeans were leading by 20-11. Canada’s head coach, Glenn Hoag, made some substitutions – Justin Duff replaced Mainville, Dallas Soonias subbed-in Schmitt, and the rookie John Perrin had his chance to play as he took Lankvelt’s role. Canada improved a little bit by the end, but saw the Serbians win by 25-17.

Miljkovic poor performance in attack may have cost Serbia the game, as on the fourth set we saw both teams battling, and the Serbian star couldn’t stand out in the crucial moments. Canada did its part, especially Justin Duff, a substitute middle player that had a key role throughout the set, and was responsible for the match point, hitting in a one on one attack.

Today, the fans had a chance to see a group. Every player had his time on the court, and every one of them gave his contribution. If Mainville was essential on the first set, but saw his game decline on the second, Justin Duff came in to help the team. Other substitutions proved to be important too, like when Dallas Soonias subbed-in Schmitt. Soonias, originally a right side, had been moved to the left side in July. Back to his old place, he was fundamental on the fourth set. Dan Lewis confirmed he’s a world-class libero. Veteran Fred Winters played consistently, and was the main scorer for Canada, with 14 points – Nikola Kovacevic led the Serbians, and finished the match as the main scorer with 17 points.

Tomorrow Canada faces Germany – later today the Germans will play against Poland. Certainly Team Canada won’t be seen as it used to be before the match today. A few people would make a bet on Canada against Serbia. Well, they had a surprise – a big one.

Volleyball

Team Canada was beaten in straight sets by Poland, showing an inconsistent game

By Sidronio Henrique

Winters, Mainville and Schmitt try to stop Piotr Gruszka. Photo: Courtesy FIVB

The Polish squad wasn’t playing its best, but that wasn’t even necessary to overplay Canada in straight sets earlier today in the opening round of the men’s volleyball world championship, in Italy. The mistakes made by the Canucks, the lack of attention on defence, and the chances wasted when they could score during transitions killed the possibility of giving a hard time to Poland. The European champions defeated Canada by 25-22, 25-21 and 25-13.

Team Canada started with Fred Winters and Toon Van Lankvelt on the left side, Gavin Schmitt on the right side, Adam Simac and Louis-Pierre Mainville playing middle, and Josh Howatson was the line-up setter. Canada is in pool F, completed with Serbia and Germany, in the city of Trieste.

The first set was the most balanced, with both teams a little bit nervous. The veteran Fred Winters, playing for the national team since 2003, was the reference, ending that set as the main scorer for Canada, with five points. The Canadian squad could have won the first set. When the game was tied in 20, Team Canada missed three opportunities to make a kill. Later, Poland was leading 23-22, and Canada was receiving, having the chance to side out, but Howatson made a double touch, giving the Polish their first set point, which was promptly converted.

On the second set, it seemed things had changed. Some float serves by Lankvelt complicated the Polish passing, and Canada opened 3-0. The team kept its rhythm, reaching the first technical time out ahead, 8-3. However, that was the beginning of the end for the Canucks, as the Polish players showed more concentration, specially the setter Pawel Zagumny. On the next technical time out, Poland was leading 16-12 – they had scored 13 points since the previous one, while Canada had only four points. The scenario didn’t change until the end of the set.

The third and last set was the most disappointing for Canadian fans. The team seemed lost. Poland was leading 8-4, then 16-8, and they closed the set with an advantage of 12 points. Some moments were embarrassing, like the two aces scored by Poland that gave them their 15th and 16th points.

As the match went on, Gavin Schmitt grew in importance, finishing as the main Canadian scorer with 13 points – Bartosz Kurek made 19 points for Poland, and was the main scorer of the game. Recently, one of the main Brazilian news websites pointed Schmitt as the best Canadian player, the one to be observed by the opponents, highlighting his achievements in the South Korean league.

Tomorrow, Canada plays against Serbia, a squad that has been playing in a higher level than Poland lately. Team Canada faces Germany on Monday , closing its participation on pool F. Serbia and Germany played today, and the Serbians won 3-0 (25-21, 25-21 and 25-13). Three teams qualify to the next phase.

Volleyball

Men’s tournament starts this coming Saturday in Italy, and Team Canada faces off the European champion in the opening round

By Sidrônio Henrique

Soonias (7) and Mainville (1) block against Cuba during a friendly match in Ottawa. Photo: Phillip MacCallum / Photo Ventures

A few days from its first match on the world championship, Team Canada has something else to worry about than just a powerhouse like Poland – a squad that is simply the European champion, silver medalist in the last edition of this tournament, and arrives in Italy as one of the favourites. The execution of some plays and the improvement in transition as the defence needs more attention are still issues, according to the team manager, Julien Boucher. Canada will play against Serbia and Germany on the sequence in pool F, in the city of Trieste, trying to get one of the three spots to the second phase. The world championship has 24 teams in six groups.

After leaving Canada on September 12^th, the group stopped in Prague, Czech Republic for three matches against their national team. The series would help Canada, who had a low number of games on the way to the world championship, to get used to the style used by its opponents – very physical teams relying on a heavy serve and tall blocks. Even though Czech Republic isn’t as strong as Poland, Serbia and Germany, the results were disappointing to the Canucks – three defeats by 3-0. After Prague, Team Canada headed to Bled, Slovenia to face a local club coached in the last two seasons by Glenn Hoag, Canada’s head coach. In Bled the Canadians tasted a victory, but some problems remain, like those issues mentioned above.

The line-up in the first match versus the Czech will probably be the same in the world championship, with Fred Winters and Dallas Soonias on the left side, Gavin Schmitt on the right side, Adam Simac and Louis-Pierre Mainville as middle players, and Josh Howatson as the setter. However, Julien Boucher said changes still can be made.

Polish and Serbians, the first two adversaries of Canada in Trieste, are ending their route to the tournament playing friendly matches against some of the best teams in the world, but the bad news came from the German side, the third Canadian opponent, and theoretically the less difficult and direct obstacle to the third berth on pool F to the next phase. The Germans beat Italy recently by 3-1 and just finished a series against the ever champion Brazil. Team Germany defeated the Brazilians twice, by 3-2 and 3-0, having surprised Brazil with a strong serve. Obviously, exhibition games involve experiences, and the Brazilian coach, Bernardo Rezende, took the opportunity to give rhythm to some substitutes – Brazil won one match by 3-1. Anyway, the level of the game showed by the Germans was considered very consistent. Germany is coached by Raul Lozano, an Argentine with an impressive resume that includes the silver medal in the last world championship, when he took a relatively young Polish team to an unexpected result.

Julien Boucher commented that Team Canada is studying carefully its three opponents, and they are really focused to the face the challenge which is just about to start.

The International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) website doesn’t inform yet which matches of the tournament will be streamed – FIVB started a partnership this year at the World League with Laola TV. The Canadian volleyball fans can check it out later at www.fivb.org. At least, the fans will have a live score. The world championship ends on October 10^th. Brazil, the defending champion, Russia, Serbia, Cuba, Poland, Bulgaria and Italy are considered the favourites.

Stanley and his teammates warming up for the first game in Chicago. Photo: Joel Masci

“I wish we could get more people to watch volleyball”: Clayton Stanley

The man who destroyed the Brazilian dream of winning the gold medal in the last Olympics after dominating the sport during the decade talks about how intense volleyball can be, the dream of seeing the rising popularity of that sport in North America, and shows concern about the training of the American squad towards the World Championship in September. But he is confident about his way to the next Olympics, to be held in London, 2012. One gold medal is not enough to Clayton Stanley, the MVP of the men’s volleyball tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. PanTV interviewed him in Chicago, during the World League.

By Sidronio Henrique

Every Brazilian volleyball fan knows him very well; it’s a household name – Clayton Stanley, an American opposite hitter, the most valuable player of the 2008 Olympic Games. Italians, Bulgarians, Serbians and Russians had felt the power of his kills, when he and his mates finally faced Brazil in the final match at Beijing Olympics. A sequence of serves by Stanley put the Americans 6-0 ahead in the second set, after Brazil won the first. Stanley’s destroying serves was only the beginning of a comeback. The match ended 3-1 to the US team – 20 years later they got the gold again, led by Stanley, who was also the best scorer and the best server of the tournament. To Brazil, the silver medal had a bitter taste, a disappointment for a group who had won every major title in that decade until then. Clayton Stanley, a 6’8’’ tall athlete, 32 years old, doesn’t bring back good memories to the Brazilian volleyball fans.

On the last weekend of June, in Chicago, PanTV talked with the top American volleyball player — the US team hosted Finland for two matches at the 21^st edition of the World League. A star in Russia, where he has been playing in the last four years, after two seasons in Greece, Stanley can walk anonymously in any American city. “I wish we could get more people to watch volleyball”, he said, after helping his squad to beat the Finnish on the second match. Being recognized, according to him, is not relevant, but making volleyball big in the land of baseball is a goal. The Sears Arena, with 12,000 seats, had only 3,500 people on the first night, and 4,000 on the second — a small audience to the Olympic champions, a modest number if we think about the packed gymnasiums in Brazil with 20,000 people to watch Giba, Dante or Murilo playing for the national team.

Attracting people to watch volleyball in North America is a tough task, agrees the MVP of the Beijing Olympics. Without support from the media, almost none TV coverage, the sport has been seen only by a few fans. A local newspaper in Chicago covered the first match, but focused on Sean Rooney, an outside hitter for the US team who was born in the city, saying almost nothing about the game. A local blogger informed that two years ago, also during the World League, he had to explain to a photographer of another Chicago newspaper what kind of pictures could be interesting for volleyball coverage — the photographer had no clue.

Two teenagers were waiting to take pictures with Stanley as he was coming to talk to PanTV – a contrast in comparison to the legion of fans in Brazil that go frenzy every time a Brazilian player walks by near the crowd. “People here don’t understand how intense volleyball can be. It is a tough sport, very demanding”, he stresses.

In three months the World Championship starts, the most important competition of the year, and the second most relevant for volleyball, after the Olympics. Both are held every four years — the World League is annual. The World Championship will be held in Italy, in late September. Brazil, the defending champion, and Russia are, in Stanley’s opinion, the main obstacles on the way of his team to a title the US only won 24 years ago — when a legend called Karch Kiraly was the lead and helped to put the pieces together in order to beat the former USSR, another powerhouse in the eighties. “Brazil has so many talented players, and they keep coming”, says Stanley, showing respect to the number one team on the FIVB (International Federation of Volleyball) rank — the US comes right after, as number two. The new Cuban generation, who beat the Americans last year in the continental tournament, is also a source of concern.

If two years ago the American squad was running smoothly, today things go different. Some veteran players are injured, new faces joined the team representing new blood but lacking in experience. “We are trying to keep the team together, but there are many problems”, Stanley affirms, referring to the injuries — that weekend the captain William Priddy, an outside hitter and one of the best American players, had to be subbed in due to some pain. “It is a young team, but we have a long journey until London 2012”, says Clayton Stanley, looking ahead to another gold medal. The Brazilians surely don’t want him to be as inspired as he was in 2008.

Stanley’s father, Jon, played on the 1968 American men’s Olympic volleyball team and he is a member of the Volleyball Hall of Fame. Clay’s step-grandfather, Tom Haine, was also on 1968 men’s Olympic volleyball team. Clay’s mother, Sandra Haine, played professionally for the Denver Comets as well as for Canada’s national team. With Stanley’s first Olympic appearance in 2004 he and his father became the first father-son Olympians in USA Volleyball history.

Stanley hits in the second match in Chicago. Photo: Courtesy FIVB

The matches

The Finnish team started the weekend surprising the host, but on the second match the Americans downed the visitors.

A short outside hitter for professional volleyball, only 6’5’’ tall, the Finn Urpo Sivula, a 22 year old player, was the name of the first game with 31 points on 28 kills, two blocks and one ace. The Finns stun the US squad with a 3-2. The Finnish coach, the Italian Mauro Berruto, was proud that night in Chicago. “I have been forced to congratulate our opponent the last four times. This was a victory against one of the best teams in the world. Passing was key. We showed a real improvement”, said Berruto.

Back on track, the Americans were more consistent on the second night in Chicago, and led by the veteran Clayton Stanley they showed a more appropriate game to their position as the second ranked team in the world. Stanley scored 19 points on 15 kills, one block and three aces. Still, the top scorer that night was the Finnish Urpo Sivula with 22 points on 22 kills. “I thought it was important that we improve in transition and we did that”, remarked Alan Knipe, the American coach.

The US and Finland are on pool C of the World League – there are four groups. Russia leads with nine victories and one defeat, followed by the Americans with a 7-3 record – Egypt completes the group. Brazil leads pool A. The finals will be held from July 21 to 25, in Cordoba, Argentina. Brazil and Italy are the biggest winners of the World League, with eight titles each.

Canada

The last time Canada participated of the World League was in 2007. Canada team was supposed to participate in the 2008 edition, but dropped due to lack of funds. The Canadian men’s team is now ranked 20^th by FIVB. Canada doesn’t qualify to the men’s volleyball tournament at the Olympic Games since Barcelona, in 1992, when they finished in 10^th place. Their best participation was in the 1984 Olympics, held in Los Angeles, with a 4^th place – Canada had one of the best teams in the world in the first half of the eighties, but the sport never took off in the country.

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