Canada cruises in opener

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This article was published 03/09/2019 (2425 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada was anything but a gracious host to visitors from Mexico on Tuesday night.

The national men’s volleyball team completely dominated the southern squad at the University of Winnipeg’s Duckworth Centre, posting a victory in straight sets at the 2019 NORCECA Continental Championship — a vital step toward Olympic qualification.

Canada, the sixth-ranked team in the world, defeated 21st-ranked Mexico in a preliminary match on scores of 25-10, 25-17 and 25-15, as Ryan Sclater, Stephen Maar and John Perrin led the way offensively. Sclater registered 13 kills and three blocks, Maar had 10 kills and two blocks, while Perrin added nine kills and two blocks for the bigger, stronger host side.

It was the debut for the Canadians, who, unexpectedly, had Monday night off after Suriname’s sudden withdrawl from the championship. That shaved the field to seven teams.

Sclater, a product of New Westminster, B.C., said the scheduling hiccup had no effect on the hosts.

“Having another day to train and get ready was fine. We were ready to just come out firing. We played with a lot of passion,” he said. “You have so few chances to play in Canada, so this is exciting for all of us.

“We didn’t give Mexico any easy points. A lot of guys had really low error numbers, which was good to see. And when they started to do some things well, which was making some tough digs, keeping rallies going, we didn’t get rattled by that. We played through long rallies and kept hitting good shots.”

Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico are in one pool, while the United States, Cuba, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic are in another.

Canada faces Puerto Rico, ranked 24th, tonight at 8 p.m. at the Duckworth Centre. The Dominican Republic plays Guatemala at 3 p.m., while the U.S. collides with Cuba at 6 p.m.

The playoff round goes Thursday to Saturday.

Canadian coach Glenn Hoag was pleased with the squad’s opening performance in front of an appreciative crowd.

“The guys played a really focused match. It was bizarre not to play (Monday) but we had a game plan against Mexico and the guys executed well. Obviously, I’m pretty happy,” said Hoag, who stuck with Sclater, Perrin, Maar, Brett Walsh, Graham Vigrass, Daniel Jansen VanDoorn for most of the match.

“We’re going to try a couple more guys (against Puerto Rico) and get them into the tournament and, hopefully, reach our goals.”

— Jason Bell