Manitoba volleyballers got Games

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This article was published 10/10/2023 (1078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eric Loeppky believed he had seen his Olympic dreams swirling down drain Saturday night.

But less than 24 hours later, the 25-year-old outside hitter from Steinbach and Winnipegger Luke Herr, the Canada’s 29-year-old starting setter, were celebrating the return of the national men’s volleyball team to the Summer Games.

No. 12-ranked Canada had lost 3-1 to No. 17 Belgium in a crucial meeting at the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Xi’an, China, leaving second place in Pool C and an automatic berth in the 2024 Paris Games undecided until the next day.

The Belgians, tied with Canada at 4-2 in pool play but holding the tiebreaker edge, needed only to beat No. 20 Bulgaria to qualify for Paris.

“I felt like we blew our chance,” recalled Loeppky from his off-season home in Minneapolis Tuesday. “We had played so good up until that game (against Belgium). No one really thought that we would be in that position and also for them, they were an underdog team going in as well that really outperformed all expectations… I thought we were done. We had played Bulgaria the day before Belgium and we’d beaten them 3-0 and I thought, ‘Man, Belgium’s playing really good right now, there’s no way they’re gonna they’re gonna lose to Bulgaria.’ ”

But the Belgians inexplicably collapsed, losing 3-2 to Bulgaria, before the Canadians swept No. 34 Mexico (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) to claim the final qualifying spot in the pool behind undefeated world No. 1 Poland.

“After the (Bulgaria-Belgium) result, we were like, ‘What?” I’m freaking out and all the energy for Mexico just kind of came flooding in those couple hours prior to the match…,” said Loeppky, who led Canada with 16 points in the clinching win over Mexico. “It was our seventh game in nine days and we were just all pretty fatigued, and we knew that if we played even OK, we would beat Mexico. I think just the pressure of that game was pretty surreal.”

A trip to the Olympics came as sweet redemption for Loeppky.

In 2021, he was one of two Canadian players released when national teams were required to whittle their rosters from 14 to 12 for the Olympic tournament.

“The only reason I really was even close (to playing in Tokyo) was because the Olympics got delayed a year because of the pandemic,” said Loeppky, who spent a decorated U Sports career with the powerhouse Trinity Western Spartans before starting a pro career in Italy. “I had only played one year overseas. I was just getting used to and being more comfortable playing at a high level and Italy’s a great place, probably one of the best in the world to do that. It’s benefited my national team career playing there.”

Herr, meanwhile, is only in his second year with the national program after playing for the next gen national B team in 2022.

“This summer was my first with the senior team and it was unreal,” said Herr from Athens, where he starts his season with AONS Milon in the Greek pro league later this month. “We played a lot of games. I was playing with some new guys that I hadn’t played with before and just the experiences and the places we went were was quite surreal. So it was to be honest, it’s been an incredible ride these past few years and I look forward to keeping it going.”

Entering the qualification tournament, a trip to the Olympics was only an outside possibility for the Canadians.

“It hasn’t full registered yet that we did finish second in the pool and we’re going to the Olympics but it was a pretty sweet feeling right after the game, especially after the roller coaster of emotions we were on,” said Herr.

Herr, who entered the spring as an extra setter at national team training camp, soon caught the eye of new Canadian coach Tuomas Sammelvuo with his impressive play.

“Tuomas just kind of was like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna roll with this guy,’ ” said Loeppky. “He’s had a full journey of just sticking with it, playing pro and then really just blossoming and I think this year it’s been really cool this summer for him to play at this level. From June to now, he’s even improved so much.”

Loeppky sees a great future for Herr, a University of Manitoba product.

“I think really since (setter) T.J. Sanders retired after Tokyo that spot has been kind of up for grabs,” said Loeppky. “It’s been multiple guys kind of coming in and I think Luke now will probably solidify that role for at least another five years.”

Canada’s sensational qualifying run caps almost a full transition year under Sammelvuo, a former Finnish international who guided the Russians to a silver medal in Toyko. Sammelvuo replaced Ben Josephson, who was fired by Volleyball Canada after only five months on the job and a 17th-place finish at the 2022 world championship.

“That’s a touchy subject,” said Loeppky of Josephson’s ouster. “You know, I’m biased because I obviously played for Ben in university (at Trinity Western) and I don’t think I’d be the player I am without him. He’s a mentor and friend to me still. I think Volleyball Canada just wasn’t really happy with the summer and they kind of decided to move on quickly.”

Sammelvuo has a glittering resume: In addition to a stint as head coach of the Finnish national team he is also currently head coach of ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, a powerhouse club in the Polish PlusLiga.

“He’s brought the best out of me as a player so I have really enjoyed working for him,” said Loeppky. “I’m just learning from his experience of coaching some of the best in the world.”

In his fourth season as a pro, Loeppky’s growing reputation has brought him to the prestigious Vero Volley Monza, a SuperLega team near Milan. He will be earning 180,00 euros (Cdn$259,000) with most of his expenses paid by the club for the eight-month season, a considerable step up from the 35,000 euros (Cdn$50,000) he earned as a rookie pro.

“My first three years I’ve just signed one-year contracts and then I had a really good year last year,” said Loeppky. “And I’m going to a better team now and I this is my first two-year contract.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca