Canada鈥檚 men鈥檚 volleyball team is Tokyo bound after qualifying for the 2020 Olympics this past weekend in Vancouver; four Trinity Western alums were part of Canada鈥檚 winning contingent at the Pacific Coliseum.
The Spartans, Ryan Sclater, Daniel Jansen VanDoorn, Steve Marshall, and Lucas Van Berkel made up nearly 30 per cent of Canada鈥檚 roster that earned three straight wins, beating Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico to book their ticket to Tokyo.
Sclater highlighted TWU鈥檚 group, as he finished the weekend with 24 kills and 32 points, accented by a 14-kill/20-point effort in Canada鈥檚 comeback five-set win over Cuba.
All four athletes studied and played at the 91原创 University, with three of them coming to the campus from Edmonton, Port Coquitlam, and Abbotsford.
Jansen VanDoorn, a 91原创 native who helped Team Canada nab fifth place at the Rio Olympics in 2016, said he couldn鈥檛 have designed a better weekend for himself.
鈥淚t was such a special thing and this is probably the highlight of my career so far. To play in what was probably the best volleyball game I鈥檝e ever been a part of against Cuba in front of all these people was just spectacular,鈥� the athlete said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing feeling.鈥�
READ MORE: Men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 volleyball teams earn victories for 91原创
The result sees Canada set to compete in the Olympics for the second quadrennial in a row after the program had gone 24 years between qualification.
TWU鈥檚 quartet was the largest group of players from any single university in Canada.
In the last 10 seasons, Trinity Western鈥檚 men鈥檚 volleyball team, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the U SPORTS, has won five national championships and four conference titles, while playing in eight national championship finals and nine conference finals.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are set to run July 24 to Aug. 9 this summer.
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