Canadian men's volleyball team tops Argentina to improve to 2-0 at Olympic qualifying tournament

The Canadian men's volleyball team defeated Argentina in Xi'an, China, on Sunday, improving its record to 2-0 in the Olympic qualifying tournament for Paris 2024.

Fresh off of a five-set victory over the No. 11-ranked Netherlands on Saturday in which they had to battle back from a 2-1 deficit, the 14th-ranked Canadians set themselves up very well with a two-set lead, ultimately dispatching the No. 6 Argentina in four sets (27-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15).

Argentina entered the match sitting in second in the eight-team Pool C after defeating Mexico in three sets in the tournament opener.

Down 15-11 in the first set, Canada battled back to finally knot the game up at 19, and eventually prevailed 27-25 off of a block by Toronto's Danny Demyanenko.

The second set was again tight, although the Canadians took hold of the lead at 5-4 and never surrendered it en route to a 25-22 second set victory.

Stephen Maar was a major factor in Canada's quick start, racking up 10 points across the first two sets. The Aurora, Ont., native finished with 16 points overall - tied for the game-high with Toronto's Arthur Szwarc.

Canada answered with a 6-0 run of their own early in the fourth set to take an 11-4 lead, and earned its most decisive set win of the tournament to clinch the victory, 25-15.

The schedule for Canada doesn't get any easier as top-ranked Poland awaits on Tuesday at 4 a.m. ET. The match will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

WATCH | Canada to take on No. 1 Poland:

Canada will also face No. 21 Belgium, No. 22 Mexico, No. 25 Bulgaria and No. 32 China in single-match round robin pool play, with the top two teams in the eight-team group earning spots in Paris next year.

The Canadian women's