Canada's Stephen Timothy Maar, right, spikes the ball during a men's volleyball preliminary round pool A match between Canada and Venezuela at the 2020 Summer Olympics on July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Manu Fernandez
Republished October 06, 2023 - 6:16 AM
Original Publication Date October 05, 2023 - 10:36 PM
XI'AN, China - Stephen Maar scored 16 points as Canada made quick work of Bulgaria in a 3-0 win on Friday at the men’s Olympic qualification tournament.
The Canadians won each set 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.
Canada led Bulgaria in attacking, blocking and service points, but errors were equal at 20 apiece
Eric Loeppky scored 13 points for Canada (4-1) and Arthur Szwarc added 11 points.
Martin Atanasov led the Bulgarians in scoring with nine points.
"We played quite a solid game, making very few mistakes in our attack," said Canada’s head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo. "It’s a good result and now we will recover and concentrate on the next game."
The Canadians are second in Pool C heading into Saturday's match with third-place Belgium (3-2).
Poland leads the pool with a perfect 5-0 record.
The top two countries from each of the tournament's three pools will advance to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Canada's final match is Sunday against Mexico (0-5).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.
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