Canada falls to Belgium at men's Olympic volleyball qualifying tournament

Canada dropped a four-set loss (14-25, 25-22, 28-30, 16-25) to Belgium on Saturday to fall to 4-2 at the men's volleyball Olympic qualification tournament in Xi'An, China.

Belgium led in attack points (55-50) and blocking points (18-7), and made fewer errors (21-27) than Canada,

Belgium's veteran captain Sam Deroo paced the attack with 20 points. Stephen Maar, of Aurora, Ont., led Canada with 19 points, while Eric Leoppky, of Steinbach, Man., had 14.

"Today Belgium was a lot better than us," said Canadian coach Tuomas Sammelvuo.

The loss dropped Canada (4-2) to third place in Pool C behind undefeated Poland (6-0), and pushed Belgium (4-2) into second with one match to go.

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

Canada plays its final match against Mexico (0-6) on Sunday. Belgium will meet Bulgaria (3-3).

"The tournament is not over. We have to do our maximum against Mexico and see what happens in the other games," said Sammelvuo.