Canadian men rebound at volleyball worlds with 3-set sweep of China

Canada's men's volleyball team recovered from a sweep at the hands of Italy in its world championship opener by defeating China 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 in Pool E action on Monday in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

"I'm happy with the 3-0 win; that matters for a lot of reasons," Canada head coach Ben Josephson said in a statement released by Volleyball Canada. "Fatigue and recovery in this tournament are a big deal as well we know there are a lot of teams vying to get into the next round and every set will matter.

"Most importantly, we were able to build on that third set we played with Italy [that went to 39-37 on Saturday]."

Italy also prevailed 25-13, 25-18 in the first two sets.

"We are getting better and that's what we need to do for Turkey [on Wednesday]," Josephson said. "We've got 48 hours to recover and prepare and hopefully continue to get better with each set of this tournament."

WATCH | Canada swept by Italy on Saturday:

Against China, Canada prevailed on attack points (41-35), service aces (5-3) and made fewer errors, but China led in blocking points (7-4).

Ryan Sclater led the Canadians in scoring with 16 points.

The competition, also held in Poland, sees 24 teams spread across six pools of four, playing in a single round-robin format. The top two nations in each pool and the four best third-placed teams will qualify for the elimination round.

Canada's roster #3 – Derek Epp - Saskatoon #4 – Nicholas Hoag – Sherbrooke, Que. (captain) #5 – Eric Loeppky – Steinbach, Man. #7 – Stephen Maar – Aurora, Ont. #8 – Brett Walsh - Calgary #10 – Ryan Sclater - Port Coquitlam, B.C. #11 – Pearce Eshenko – Banff, Alta. #12 – Lucas Van Berkel – Edmonton #17 – Ryley Barnes - St. Paul, Alta. #19 – Brodie Hofer – Langley, B.C. #20 – Arthur