QUEZON CITY — Canada was dealt its first defeat at the world men’s volleyball championship on Wednesday with a 3-0 loss to Turkey.

Set scores were 21-25, 16-25, 25-27 as Turkey (3-0) finished ahead of Canada (2-1) in the Pool G standings.

Both teams entered the match assured of a berth in the Round of 16.

Turkey outperformed Canada in attack by 43-28 points and made fewer unforced errors — 19 to Canada’s 24. Blocking points were even at seven, and Canada had eight aces compared with its opponent’s three.

Canadian opposite Sharone Vernon-Evans (three aces, two kill blocks), middle blocker Fynn McCarthy (three aces, one kill block), and outside hitter and captain Nicholas Hoag (two aces, one kill block) jointly topped Canada’s scoring with eight points apiece.

Canada next plays top-ranked Poland on Saturday, with the loser facing elimination.

“I feel we missed a good opportunity today,” said Canada head coach Dan Lewis. “Turkey attacked in difficult situations very well and they played much better defence.

“I feel this is what we’ve been working on a lot but failed to execute today; we didn’t dig enough balls and our attack efficiency dropped collectively. We started a couple of the sets poorly, and then we had our window there in the third set to finish and we missed that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2025.