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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, August 8, 2013 | 24 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Sports Gaining some respect Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com "Connected to your Community" Volleyball veteran says he notices opponents looking at Canada differently by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor D an Lewis doesn't need statistics or rankings to measure how far the Canadian men's volleyball program has come in the past few years. He sees enough validation from the other side of the court. "You see the different way (opponents) look at you. It's something I've noticed. Before, you're invisible to them, you really are. Now, you shake their hand and they look you in the eye," the veteran libero said of the increased respect he and his Canadian teammates are receiving these days. "Even during the games, there's some communication through the net. You can tell it's a different dialogue, the verbal exchanges are quite a bit different. You can tell they're there and focused on what they're doing. Before, they didn't even have to show up." The more tangible methods of determining Canada's progress are also flattering. Canada is on the verge of cracking the world's top 10, moving up from No. 18 to No. 11 with a best-ever fifth-place showing at the recent FIVB World League tournament. Playing the competition's lower-ranked teams in Pool C, Canada opened round-robin action with splits against Portugal and the Netherlands before sweeping Korea, Finland and Japan to win the division with an 8-2 mark. Canada then shocked the volleyball world Oakville's Dan Lewis (in white) prepares to bump the ball to his Canadian national volleyball teammates during the recent FIVB World League tournament. Highlighted by a come-from-behind victory over eventual champion Russia in the playoff round, Canada finished fifth in the tournament and moved up to No. 11 in the world rankings. | photo courtesy Photo Ventures / Volleyball Canada in the first round of playoffs, overcoming a 2-0 deficit in sets to defeat eventual World League champion Russia 20-25, 21-25, 2523, 25-21, 15-11. It was just the second time in 15 years that Russia lost a match after winning the first two sets, and Canada scored 13 of the final 17 points in the deciding set after Russia jumped out to a 7-2 lead. Lewis said the pivotal point of the match was when he and his teammates, who fell one win short of qualifying for the Olympics last year, finally convinced themselves they were capable of beating one of the world's volleyball heavyweights. "We weren't performing well (in the first two sets). We were still a little glossy-eyed, thinking `Whoa, it's Russia.' Even me, after all these years, I could still feel that," said the 35-year-old T.A. Blakelock grad, who recently signed a contract for next season with a professional team in Poland. "Then we said `This is ridiculous.' We could feel that we belonged there and that we could perform at that level. It took those two sets to get that rhythm." Being able to find that rhythm at the beginning of the match appears to be the next step for a Canadian program that also defeated No. 5 Cuba last year. Following the upset win over Russia, Canada lost its next game 3-0 to top-ranked Brazil and finished the tournament in fifth. The glimpses of potential have been there, Lewis says, but the consistency has not. "To be able to perform on demand, that's what everyone is searching for. The top four or five teams pretty much do that all the time," he said. "We've shown we have a high level. Now we have to do that day in and day out and train that way day in and day out... When you think about it, that's what every top athlete is looking for. The athletes that can do that are the superstars and the teams that do that are the dynasties." The fifth-place finish in World League means Canada will be moved into one of the top two pools at next year's tournament, allowing the team the chance to play against world top-five teams like Brazil, Russia, Italy, see NORCECA on p.25 Insurance advice for your life. And everything in it. 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