CURITIBA, Brazil — Graham Vigrass led Canada with 15 points but the Canadians still fell to host Brazil 3-1 on Tuesday at the Volleyball World League Finals.
Brazil beat Canada 25-21, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19 in the opener of the international tournament.
Brazilian opposite Wallace De Souza topped the scoring charts with 18 points, supported by teammates Ricardo Lucarelli and Lucas Saatkamp, who added 12 and 11 respectively.
Gordon Perrin had 14 points and Sharone Vernon-Evans added 13 for Canada.
"I thought we started right in the match, and played well with momentum," said Perrin, "but it was too difficult with Brazil's block, and we made too many errors in the end to have a chance to win the match, but we kept it close."
Canada started strong, losing a good lead in the first but then bouncing back to decisively win the second set. But Brazil, which won gold at the 2016 Olympics, used its experience to gain its composure and hold off Canada's challenges to please the approximately 10,000 fans with the win.
The result awarded Brazil three points and the top sport in Pool J1. While the crowd-favourites are now only one step away from the semifinals, Canada must defeat Russia on Wednesday.
The Canadian Press