September 23, 2018 - 5:03 PM
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Canada downed Bulgaria in five sets on Sunday to finish seventh at the FIVB Men's World Championships.
Gordon Perrin accounted for 18 points, followed by Nick Hoag with 15 and Lucas Van Berkel with 13 as the Canadians took the match: 25-19, 25-14, 21-25, 19-25, 15-10.
Teams needed to win their pool, or own one of the next top-two records to advance to the final six, but Canada finished second behind the United States in its pool and didn't have a strong enough record to squeeze through.
Overall, Canada was 5-3 in two rounds of play, with losses to Brazil, France and the United States.
"We lost against three teams who were favourites to win the tournament," said Canadian coach Stephane Antiga.
"We won against some good teams — Iran, the host team Bulgaria, and we stayed close with Brazil and France, despite losing. That's satisfying, but we wanted more because we know that we can win against the big teams."
The Americans, Brazil, Italy, Serbia, Russia and Poland have all advanced.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2018