FIVB: Maple Volleys Kick Off World League Finals

The Maple Volleys 2017 World League campaign continues tonight as they travel to Brazil after qualifying for the Final Six for the first time since 2013. They take on the hosts at 2:00 p.m. ET. 

Finishing 5th in the intercontinental round with a 5-4 record, Canada will be in pool J1 alongside hosts Brazil and Russia. The Maple Volleys fell 3-1 to the defending Olympic Champions in Week 2, and haven't faced Russia since the Quarterfinals at the Rio Olympic Games last summer. This is also the same pool as the 2013 World League Finals, in which Canada upset Russia 3-2 but failed to move on to the semi-finals. 

They face Russia on Wednesday once again at 2:00 ET. With no meeting duering t

On the other side in pool J1, the USA - who started the World League 0-3 but have been red hot since then, will be fighting against defending World League champs Serbia and red hot France. France is coming into the finals as favourites after going 8-1 in the intercontinental round and welcoming superstar Earvin N'Gapeth back into the starting line-up. 

The top two teams from each pool will move on to the semis on Friday, with the Gold and Bronze medal games to be played on Sunday. All Canadian matches can be found on cbcsports.ca and all World League matches can be found live on YouTube. 

🇨🇦 Canada vs. 🇧🇷 Brazil - July 4th @ 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT

🇨🇦 Canada vs. 🇷🇺 Russia - July 5th @ 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PT