Zvitavy, Czech Republic, September 16, 2010 – The Czech Republic completed a clean sweep of three friendly matches against Canada on Thursday after beating the visitors 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-23) in the third and final warm up match prior to the FIVB Men’s World Championship which starts on September 25.

2010 FIVB Men's World Championship page

Canada, ranked 20th in the world, and the Czechs, ranked 36th, are both tuning up for the Worlds Championships set for September 25 to October 10 in Italy. 
“We our work cut out for us,” said Canadian coach Glenn Hoag.  “I don’t think we expected to lose all three matches.  Again the sets were close but we couldn’t find a way to finish.  We had lot of missed opportunities on the attack and that was the difference.”

Adam Simac led Canada with 11 points, Louis-Pierre Mainville added nine and Fred Winters eight.

“Everybody knows that it’s hard work that will get us out of this funk,” said Gavin Schmitt, Canada’s top scorer in the previous two matches.  “These preparation matches were very important and it would have been nice to get into a habit of winning.”

The Canadian squad has also been hit by a flu virus on this trip.  Hoag and team manager Julien Boucher as well as players Toon Van Lankvelt and Justin Duff have been the most affected.  Van Lankvelt did not play Thursday while Duff made a brief appearance.

The Canadian team heads for its final preparation stage in Bled, Slovenia, about a two-hour car ride from Trieste, Italy where it will play its round robin matches at the World Championships.