Canada’s national volleyball team defeated Cuba three sets to one Tuesday evening in front of a home crowd at TD Place in Ottawa.
The match went back and forth between the two teams with Cuba frequently scoring two or three times in a row.
The home team was even behind for most of the fourth and final set but were able to reach match point several times. Ultimately Canada won with a “monster block” at the end of the fourth set by the combined efforts of players Stephen Maar, Lucas Van Berkel and Arthur Szwarc.
Next, Canada will face Argentina on Thursday, the U.S. Saturday and Serbia on Sunday. After the end of this four day tourney, the second leg of the Nations League competitions, the team continues will continue to Manilla in the Philippines with a match against Japan on June 18.
The Volleyball Nations League is a six week competition with rounds in various locations including Ottawa running from May 14 to June 30. It features 18 teams from across the world.
Teams are divided into pools with Pool Four consisting of Canada, Cuba, Argentina, France, the U.S., Italy, Serbia and Netherlands.
The tournament also serves as a qualifying tournament for teams hoping to get a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Seven teams already have a guaranteed spot in the upcoming games in Paris, France, including Canada, the U.S., home team France, Brazil, Germany, Japan and Poland.
France are also defending Olympic champions.
Canada qualified in October and will be making its third consecutive and sixth appearance at the Summer Games.
Canada has never won a medal in Men’s Volleyball at the Olympics, with their best showing being a fourth place finish in 1984.
