Things are looking up for Canada's volleyball teams

Last night in Moncton, the Canadian men's volleyball team lost a five-set nailbiter to the United States in the final of the NORCECA championship, a biennial tournament to crown the top team in North and Central America and the Caribbean. It was Canada's third straight time walking away with the silver medal.

But the Canadian men have their eyes on a bigger prize. En route to their runner-up finish in the NORCECA championship, they qualified for a separate tournament this Friday and Saturday in Moncton for a berth in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The four-team, single-elimination qualifier begins Friday with Canada facing Mexico at 3:30 p.m. ET and Cuba meeting the Dominican Republic at 6 p.m. ET. The winners square off for the Olympic spot on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. You can watch every game live on CBC Gem and the CBC Sports website.

The NORCECA-champion United States — ranked fourth in the world behind Poland, reigning world champion Italy and Russia — is not involved in the Olympic qualifier because it gets a free pass to the L.A. Games as the host country.

The Canadians, ranked 13th in the world, look like the favourite to win it. Besides enjoying home-court advantage, they're the highest-ranked team in the bunch — Cuba is 16th, Mexico 23rd and the Dominican 45th. Also, Canada beat Mexico in straight sets in the group stage before doing the same to Cuba in the semifinals.

This is a pretty nice spot for the Canadian men to find themselves in after their disastrous Nations League season this summer. They went 1-11 to finish second-last in the 18-team competition for the world's top volleyball countries and were relegated out of the league for next year.

Coach Dan Lewis and his players seem to have righted the ship,