Canada claims volleyball bronze

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This article was published 07/09/2019 (2380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Saturday’s NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship bronze medal match had no bearing on whether Team Canada will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

That doesn’t mean the Maple Volleys didn’t come out swinging.

The Canadian squad, led by a strong performance from East St. Paul’s Jason DeRocco, beat Mexico, the No. 21-ranked country in the world, in straight sets (25-14, 25-18, 25-12) at the University of Winnipeg’s Duckworth Centre.

The sixth-ranked Canadians had to settle for a third-place battle after falling to No. 18 Cuba (17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-19) in Friday night’s semifinal. Mexico lost in straight sets to the United States in the other semifinal.

“You know, we are a little disappointed. We wanted to be in the final, but it is nice to get a good win at the end of the tournament,” said DeRocco, the lone Manitoban on the team. “The fans were great today and yesterday, as well. All week, they were showing up. It was a lot of fun for me. It meant a lot.”

Canada dominated Mexico for the entire match, with the offensive charge running through DeRocco and Ryan Sclater all afternoon. The pair of attackers combined for 22 kills.

“I gotta say, it was all the setters today. They were setting some good balls,” said a humble DeRocco, a left-side hitter. “They were forcing a few to me, which they didn’t need to do. But I think they knew it was a pretty important one for me to play at home. I gotta thank them. I’ll get them a beer later or something.”

Although Canada failed to win gold in the seven-team tournament on home soil, it wasn’t all bad news for the red and white. By reaching the semifinals, they clinched a spot in the NORCECA final-four Olympic qualification tournament in January. Canada will have to win the four-team event, which will feature Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico, to qualify for their second-straight Olympic games. The Americans already have their spot in Tokyo clinched.

DeRocco, 29, was one of Canada’s final cuts before the 2016 Olympics. He will be on the team at next month’s 2019 World Cup in Japan, and in January at the Olympic qualifier. But ultimately, the goal is to be on the team that hopefully heads to Tokyo next summer.

“I was still a young guy at that time and still working to earn the respect of (coach Glenn) Hoag. So now, I’m slowly getting it one step at a time,” said DeRocco, a Miles Macdonnell Collegiate graduate who played professionally in Tokyo last season. “These games are important. He sees I’m out here swinging hard and ready to play.”

Hoag, who coached Canada from 2006-2016 before taking a couple years off and then rejoining the team this year, liked what he saw from the 6-7 DeRocco this week in Winnipeg.

“He’s a very skilled athlete. So you know, we’ll see. We have quite a few athletes competing for those spots,” Hoag said. “It’s not easy for anybody. They all know that. They’ll compete hard to get to that spot. But, like everybody else, I think it’s really minor things. Especially in his case, it’s mostly serving, passing and defending are his forte. But his attacking has been improving. I think just being like a shorter guy, he needs to be really strong in these aspects.”

Despite the group not having much to play for on Saturday, Hoag said he didn’t have to say anything to get them inspired. They realize events like this one will set the tone for the qualifier in January. The four-team tournament doesn’t have an announced location yet, but wherever it is, it’s Canada’s last shot to punch its ticket to Tokyo. Anything other than a first-place finish will have Canada on the outside looking in, even though they’re a top 10 nation and finished the last Olympics in fifth place.

“They know every touch on the ball and everything we do is going to lead us to (the qualifier),” Hoag said. “That group is pretty focused in that way and pretty serious. I haven’t seen them in any circumstance give up, slow down or relax a little bit. So, I’m pretty proud of them and we’re happy.

“We’re hoping a win in January will come our way.”

Before the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Canada’s last appearance was in 1992 in Barcelona.

But with the recent success, Canada’s expectations are the highest they’ve been in years.

“In the international game, at the top of the pyramid, it gets super competitive. Other countries are producing wonderful athletes and we need to do the same,” Hoag said.

“We’re a smaller country, obviously, than the U.S. and Russia. So, we need to be very focused on the development of our athletes and the ones that come to the program, (we need) to accelerate their development to the international game.

“We have a university or school-based system which is very different than the European system. But, we’re doing a pretty good job in Canada given the smaller population.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31