Unbeaten Canada bumps off Puerto Rico in men’s continental volleyball championship

MONCTON — So far so good for Team Canada at the NORCECA men’s continental volleyball championship.

The unbeaten Canadians beat Puerto Rico 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 on Saturday at the Avenir Centre to improve their Group A record to 2-0. Canada beat Curaçao on Friday.

Canada led the way in attacks (43-28), blocks (12-4) and aces (5-3). The hosts had the top four individual scorers, led by Eric Loeppky (15 points) and Sharone Vernon-Evans (13), while Stephen Maar and Jackson Howe chipped in 12 each.

Pedro Molina (10 points) was the top scorer for Puerto Rico.

“Puerto Rico is always a dangerous team because they have a long history of volleyball there,” said Canada’s head coach Dan Lewis. “They can be very technical and they can get momentum. You always need to have big presence of mind to play this team, but we are on a mission here to make sure that we win the pool. That’s the first goal to set ourselves up for the proper execution of the second half (of the tournament).

“There was one phase in the second set where we weren’t exactly playing our style of intensity needed to execute at a high level, but the guys corrected themselves.”

Group A action wraps up Sunday, with Puerto Rico taking on Curaçao (0-2), while Canada meets Mexico (2-0).

“Mexico is also a good team so we’ve got to come out swinging again, just take care of business and use that home crowd to get us through,” said Canada’s libero Landon Currie of Vernon, B.C.

The nine-day tournament runs through Sept. 19, with eight teams competing for three berths to the 2027 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup in Poland.

The tournament will also determine the teams that advance to NORCECA’s final qualification stage for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2026.

The Canadian Press