NOVI SAD, Serbia – Okotoks, Alta., native Stephen Gotch served his Canadian men’s volleyball teammates an invitation into the quarterfinal round of the 25th Summer Universiade thanks to a four-set victory (34-36, 25-20, 25-20, 25-15) over Ukraine, Tuesday evening in Novi Sad, Serbia, one hour north of Belgrade.
Gotch, in just his second international appearance with a Canadian team, was an offensive dynamo for the red and white, pounding 15 kills, including every set winning point, and spinning 4 aces, including three in the deciding set. Calgary’s Joel Schmuland added 15 kills, while Gander, Newfoundland native Max Burt was a perfect 10-for-10 in kills at the middle position.
“Gotch is a great player, said head coach Georges Laplante, “but in our practises and warm-ups he’s been hitting these great serves, and then just rolling them in games because he was afraid to make mistakes. After our first game I told him that he has to stop just rolling his serves in the game, and to just hit them. If he misses it’s because he’s hitting the hardest serve he can, which will provoke some changes in the other team’s serve receive game. I’d rather he try his serve in the game, so I told him and the coaches today, that we needed a big banger at the line, and he delivered.”
The win guaranteed Canada a spot in the playoff bracket courtesy a second place finish in the Group C preliminary standings. Egypt, who lost to the Canucks 3-2 in pool play, advanced as the first place team thanks to a superior points for differential. Canada now has a shot at bettering their best ever Universiade finish, a pair of silver medals from the 1983 Games in Edmonton, Alta., and from Bangkok, Thailand in 2007.
Laplante and his Canadian squad will face Russia (5-0) in the quarterfinal on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Serbian time. The Russians finished atop the Group standings, and did not lose a single set.
“For sure reaching the quarter-finals was a goal, but it’s hard to set goals in a tournament like this, because you don’t know a lot about the other teams,” said Laplante. “After our loss to Japan we knew we had to just forget about it, and that if we wanted to advance to the quarterfinals that we would have to start taking risks.”
“I haven’t seen Russia play yet, but I know they’ve been playing well and have not lost a set,” added Laplante. “They will be very good, but we match-up well with them in size and jumping ability, so we’ll come ready to play. You never know, it’s a quarter-final and anything can happen.”
After a marathon opening frame, where neither team seemed capable of finishing the other one off, Ukraine finally closed the deal with a kill off the Canadian block at 36-34.
Canada exacted a measure of revenge in the second set; trading leads and runs with the Ukrainians before Gotch, of the UBC Thunderbirds, pounded a kill off the Ukrainian block for the 25-20 set win.
It was all Canada in the third as they opened up a 12-7 lead, weathered a 6-3 Ukraine run, and then closed out in familiar fashion with Gotch earning the set-winning kill. Burt, of the Dalhousie University Tigers, had a strong set as well, scoring Canada’s first point of the third on a kill, and then picking up a stuff block for a point at 18-16.
“We were little excited to start the match, for our game to start coming together, wanting it to come together faster than it would normally happen, and I think that led to the mistakes in the opening set,” said Gotch a 2008 CIS First Team All-Canadian. “We started to get more and more composed as the match went on, and as we did, we really found our game.”
After Canada opened a 4-1 lead, Gotch put on a clinic in the fourth, spinning back-to-back aces at 14-10 and 15-10, and then picked up another to make it 17-10. Schmuland smashed the Canadians to a 10-point advantage, 20-10, and then Gotch pulled the curtain down on the yellow and blue, ending it at 25-15.
“I started out the tournament missing a lot of my serves and making a lot of errors from the line,” added Gotch. “But tonight the coach told me to ‘grip it and rip it’, so that’s what I started doing. I got the green light to really hammer my serves and fortunately I was placing them in the court.”

Stat Leaders
Canada
Kills: Stephen Gotch (15), Joel Schmuland (15), Max Burt (10)
Blocks: Joel Schmuland (3), Thomas Jarmoc (3), Adam Simac (3)
Aces: Stephen Gotch (4), Joel Schmuland (1), Adam Simac (1)
Ukraine
Kills: Igor Antonyuk (16), Yuriy Petunin (10), Bogdan Otryshko (9)
Blocks: Mykola Rudnitsyki (3), Yuriy Petunin (2), Artem Kalinichenko (2)
Aces: Mykola Rudnitskyi (3), Roman Khandrolin (1), Igor Antonyuk (1)

Team Canada Schedule
(Belgrade time)
July 2: Canada 3, Great Britain 0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-15)
July 4: Canada 3, Slovenia 0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-16)
July 5: Canada 3, Egypt 2 (16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 15-12)
July 6: Japan 3, Canada 2 (13-25, 25-18, 25-22, 20-25, 15-12)
July 7: Canada 3, Ukraine 1 (34-36, 25-20, 25-20, 25-15)
July 9: 20:00 Canada vs Russia - Quarter-finals