Argentina overpowers Canadians in pool play

Taipei City, Chinese Taipei – The Canadian men’s volleyball team ran into an efficient Argentina squad on Thursday afternoon and dropped a 3-0 (11-25, 17-25, 15-25) decision to even their record at 2-2.

Argentina came out firing in the first set and Canada had to burn both their timeouts before reaching the second technical timeout. Trailing 16-6 at the break, Canada couldn’t solve the strong Argentine service game and lost the set 25-11.

Canada’s Cameron Branch had a good start to the second set and helped bring the team to an 8-7 advantage at the first technical timeout. Argentina rallied with strong defence to take the lead midway through the set, however, and went on to a 25-17 win to take a commanding 2-0 match lead.

The serving from Argentina baffled the Canadians to start the third set and the red and white found themselves trailing 8-2 at the first technical. With the inability to create good scoring chances, Canada couldn’t climb out of the hole and fell 25-15 in the final set.

Argentina scored with 41 kills compared to just 16 for Canada. Branch led the team with eight kills while Gabriel Chancy and Jeremy Davies each had five digs to lead Canada.

Canada now sits at 2-2 and is third in their pool. The team finishes pool play on August 25 when they face first-place Iran.