WE BUILT OUR OWN WALL, MR. TRUMP
Canada stuns the U.S. in three
American Taylor Sander, left, tries to get the ball past the Canadian wall of John Gordon Perrin, Graham Vigrass and Gavin Schmitt. No. 12 Canada beat the No. 5 Americans in straight sets in their opening match at the Rio Olympics.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Canada waited 24 long years to make its return to the Olympic men’s volleyball court.
On Sunday, the team showed it belonged on the sport’s biggest stage.
Canada surprised the fifth-ranked United States in straight sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-23) in a rollicking affair that packed plenty of punch for a preliminary round opener at the Rio Olympics.
The near-sellout crowd at the Ma- racanazinho in volleyball-mad Brazil was in Canada’s corner from the start. With spikers Nick Hoag and Gavin Schmitt setting the tone, the 12th-ranked Canadians played like Olympic veterans.
“We’re not intimidated by anybody,” Schmitt said. “We’re going to go at everybody. We’re here to compete.”
There was no sign of nerves at the outset. The Canadians kept it cool in the pre-game introductions while the exuberant Americans slapped each other with high-fives and gave each other bear hugs.
But Americans made 10 service faults in the opening set and fell apart late in the second. Canada closed out the set on a 10-2 run as Hoag sealed it with an ace.
Schmitt was a force all game and came through again when it counted in the third set. His spike at 23-23 gave Canada a match ball and he followed it with another point to complete the 3-0 win.
“You never expect a victory quite like that,” Schmitt said. “But we know that we can play very well and if we focused on our own game, really took it to them and played aggressive then we had a good chance of beating them.”
A huge test awaits Tuesday as Canada faces top-ranked Brazil. The rest of Pool A includes No. 4 Italy, No. 11 France and No. 26 Mexico.