Abbotsford’s Steven Marshall and the Maple Volleys Olympic journey is over.
Team Canada’s indoor volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-18) to Russia at the quarter-finals on Wednesday to put an end to their time in Rio.
Canadian head coach Glen Hoag, who will be leaving the program, said the team has things to work on, but the future is bright.
“The guys lack patience – it’s a problem with this team,” said head coach Glenn Hoag. “We need to learn from that and look at Tokyo (2020) now. Part of the group is fairly young so we have a good base to build on.”
Canada entered the Olympics ranked 12th in the world, while Russia was ranked third. The loss ends a surprising Olympic run for Canada, which made its first Summer Games appearance since 1992. The team needed a last-chance qualifier in June to earn the spot in Rio.
Canada got off to an impressive start in Rio, defeating the 2015 FIVB World Cup champions from the United States in three straight sets in their opening match.
After losses to Brazil and France, the Canadians rebounded with a straight sets win over Mexico and then a four-set victory over Italy, the runners-up in the 2015 FIVB World Cup.
Canada closed the round robin portion of the tournament with a three and two record, good enough for second place in their pool.
Marshall, who made appearances in every game at the Olympics, played professional volleyball with Germany’s SVG Lüneburg earlier this year.
