Canada with Coquitlam's Derek Thiessen won the silver medal Monday night at the inaugural Junior Pan Am Cup men's volleyball tournament, dropping the championship final to Venezuela 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-19, 25-23) in Panama City, Panama.
Despite losing in the gold medal match, the Canadian team, which featured four Trinity Western University students including the Centennial secondary school grad Thiessen, proved impressive in the tournament's playoffs.
After going just 1-2 in round-robin play, the maple-leaf lads turned things around in a hurry as they beat the Dominican Republic in the quarter-final (25-17, 25-14, 25-16) and then knocked off previously unbeaten Chile in the semifinal (25-19, 25-19, 25-18), setting up the championship match with undefeated Venezuela.
"I am very proud of my boys who made a great effort and showed what they are capable of,'' said Canada's national team coach Georges Laplante.
Venezuela out-blocked Canada13-9 and was also better serving as they had eight aces to Canada's four. Other TWU players on Team Canada were Brad Kusfske of Abbotsford, Lucas Van Berkel of Edmonton and Branden Schmidt of Winton, Alta.
"It was a very difficult match and not the regular 3-1 victory, as the Canadians adjusted their defence and made it hard for us,'' said Venezuela coach Gilberto Herrera.
The eight-team tournament was the first big tune-up for the Canadian squad, which is ultimately preparing for the world junior championships in Brazil July 31 to Aug. 10.
Next up for Canada will be a training camp in Slovenia July 8-16 before they go on a final pre-World Championship tour of Argentina July 25-30.
