Stephen Maar powers Canada past Bulgaria 3-0 at men’s Olympic qualifying tournament

XI’AN, China – Stephen Maar scored 16 points as Canada made quick work of Bulgaria in a 3-0 win on Friday at the men’s Olympic qualification tournament.

The Canadians won each set 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.

Canada led Bulgaria in attacking, blocking and service points, but errors were equal at 20 apiece

Eric Loeppky scored 13 points for Canada (4-1) and Arthur Szwarc added 11 points.

Martin Atanasov led the Bulgarians in scoring with nine points.

“We played quite a solid game, making very few mistakes in our attack,” said Canada’s head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo. “It’s a good result and now we will recover and concentrate on the next game.”

The Canadians are second in Pool C heading into Saturday’s match with third-place Belgium (3-2).

Poland leads the pool with a perfect 5-0 record.

The top two countries from each of the tournament’s three pools will advance to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Canada’s final match is Sunday against Mexico (0-5).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.