(Xi’an) The Canadian men’s volleyball team won its first match in a qualifying tournament for next summer’s Paris Olympics.

The Canadian team won the last two sets to defeat the Netherlands three sets to two (25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 15-12) early Saturday.

Canada will face Argentina on Saturday evening (Sunday morning local time in tournament host China).

“It was a good victory, which is very important for the team and for the confidence,” analyzed Canada head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo.

“But we are already looking towards tomorrow and recovering for the match [against Argentina]. »

The Dutch dominated in terms of attack points (69-57), but conceded more points following errors (34-25). Canada had the best in the blocks (13-5) and aces (8-3) categories.

The countries occupying the first two positions in each of the three groups of eight teams will qualify for the Paris Games.

Canada plays in Group C, with Bulgaria, Argentina, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico and China.

The tournament ends on October 8.