Unlike their opening match, the Canadian men’s volleyball team were on the losing end of a five-setter – losing 3-2 to Switzerland on Monday on Day 3 of competition of the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei, Chinese Taipei.
Irvan Brar (UBC) led the offence for Canada with 13 kills, four aces and three blocks, while Steven Wood (Nipissing) had 11 kills and three blocks.
Defensively Warren Taylor (Nipissing) and Johnathan Moate (Windsor) each had three blocks.
Canada led the match 2-0 after coming back to edge the Swiss 32-30 in the second set, but in the third their momentum disappeared.
Up 8-5 at the first technical timeout, their lead started to disappear and Switzerland eventually took the third 25-17. Another close set appeared like it was Canada’s opportunity to close out the match, but the Swiss held on to win 25-23 and force a fifth and final set.
They eventually narrowly won the match 15-13.
“Every team here is going to be pretty darn good, so nobody is going to give an inch in terms of competitiveness,” said Brar. “That’s pretty much what we saw tonight. We went pretty hard in the first two sets, let up a bit, and those guys showed why they’re here. We went to the fifth set, but just couldn’t finish it out.”
Tuesday the Canadians are back in action against Cyprus. First serve is scheduled for 8 a.m. EST.
“(To refocus) we pretty much just need to get a good night’s sleep – I know a bunch of the guys are tired, that’s a lot of jumps in a five-setter – so we’ll get some good nutrition and watch some game tape on how we’re doing and how Cyprus is doing,” said Brar.
In Pool D, Canada is now third with three points. They trail Iran and Argentina, who they will wrap up pool play against.
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