For the second Olympic Games in a row, Canada's men's volleyball team earned a fifth-place finish, with three Trinity Western alums – Ryan Sclater ('17, Port Coquitlam, B.C.), Lucas Van Berkel ('14, Edmonton) and Steven Marshall ('13, Abbotsford, B.C.) – helping the Red and White side to another strong result.
Canada's Olympic run ended with a 3-0 (25-21, 30-28, 25-22) loss in the quarter-finals to the team representing the Russian Olympic Committee. However, with a second straight appearance in the Olympic quarter-finals, Canada, who is ranked No. 10 in the world, once again showed their prowess on the biggest of stages, hanging with a Russian side that is ranked No. 3 in the world.
Sclater came to play in a major way in the quarter-final contest with the ROC, putting together his best offensive showing of the Olympic tournament, as the former U SPORTS Player of the Year (2016-17) earned 14 points, including 12 kills, one block and one ace. Sclater, who was making his Olympic debut, finished the tournament with 34 points, including 31 kills, three aces and one block. He also had a standout match in Canada's all-important three-set preliminary round win over Iran, which saw him earn 11 kills and an ace.
"I'm excited to build on what we've done here," Sclater said. "We have to trust that we have things going in the right direction. For this game today, it didn't feel like there was anything that we needed to do that was impossible for us...it was really within our grasp, and that's tough to know that. In volleyball it will always come down to a game of serve and pass, and they served aggressively and got some good results, and it really felt like we were just on the verge of breaking through. We were applying some pressure and it almost crossed over that threshold, but they held on well."
Meanwhile Van Berkel, who was also making his Olympic debut, put on a show from start to finish in Tokoy, as the towering middle finished with 48 points, including 32 kills, 14 blocks and two aces. Van Berkel also had his most statistically impressive game against the ROC, earning eight kills, two blocks and one ace.
Marshall, who was also with Canada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, saw action in three sets throughout the tournament, entering the match in the second and third sets against Poland and late in the third set against the ROC. At one point, in the match with the ROC, Canada's front row included all three Spartans.
Learn more at TWU Spartans.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier Christian liberal arts university dedicated to equipping students to establish meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. It is a fully accredited research institution offering liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has four campuses and locations: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. TWU emphasizes academic excellence, research, and student engagement in a vital faith community committed to forming leaders to have a transformational impact on culture. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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