Canadian men rebound at volleyball worlds with 3-set sweep of China

Canada's men's volleyball team recovered from a sweep at the hands of Italy in its world championship opener by defeating China 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 in Pool E action on Monday in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Will take 1-1 record into Wednesday's round-robin match against Turkey in Slovenia

CBC Sports · Posted: Aug 29, 2022 1:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 29, 2022

Canada's Arthur Szwarc, left, and Stephen Maar try to block China's Zhang Guanhua during a Pool E match at the men's world volleyball championship on Monday in Ljubljana, Slovenia. China won 7-4 in blocking points but was swept by the Canadians. (Jure Makovec/AFP via Getty Images)

Canada's men's volleyball team recovered from a sweep at the hands of Italy in its world championship opener by defeating China 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 in Pool E action on Monday in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

"I'm happy with the 3-0 win; that matters for a lot of reasons," Canada head coach Ben Josephson said in a statement released by Volleyball Canada. "Fatigue and recovery in this tournament are a big deal as well we know there are a lot of teams vying to get into the next round and every set will matter.

"Most importantly, we were able to build on that third set we played with Italy [that went to 39-37 on Saturday]."

Italy also prevailed 25-13, 25-18 in the first two sets.

"We are getting better and that's what we need to do for Turkey [on Wednesday]," Josephson said. "We've got 48 hours to recover and prepare and hopefully continue to get better with each set of this tournament."

WATCH | Full match replay: Canada vs. China:

FIVB men's volleyball world championship 2022: Canada vs. China

2 years ago

1:40:24

Watch Canada take on China at the 2022 FIVB men's volleyball world championship from Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Against China, Canada prevailed on attack points (41-35), service aces (5-3) and made fewer errors, but China led in blocking points (7-4).

Ryan Sclater led the Canadians in scoring with 16 points.

The competition, also held in Poland, sees 24 teams spread across six pools of four, playing in a single round-robin format. The top two nations in each pool and the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the elimination round.

WATCH | Canada swept by Italy on Saturday: