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The Canadian men’s volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking defeat Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Summer Universiade tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, letting a two-sets-to-none lead slip away en route to a 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 21-25, 13-15 loss to undefeated Russia.

The result put an end to Canada’s dreams of reaching the final for the second straight FISU Games and the third time in history. The Canucks captured the silver medal in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, following a 3-1 loss to Turkey and also finished second in 1983 in Edmonton.

It’s a frustrating loss for Canadian head coach Georges Laplante and his young team, who seemed to be getting better as the tournament rolled on, but struggled to keep Russia down.

“I think the inexperience of the team played a part. I think us playing our ninth game in 11 days played a part, but mostly, I think Russia simply did a really good job of adjusting their game plan and changing up their strategy, and we struggled to contend with that,” said Canadian head coach Georges Laplante from University of Montreal, who was also at the helm in 2007.

“We played really well in the first two sets and then they adjusted really well,” said team captain and setter Dustin Addison-Schneider of Winnipeg. “We neutralized their hard serve very well, but then they really started relying on their blocking, and we were slow to adjust to that. But it was a battle all the way to the end of the fifth set.”

The Canadian men, who can no longer finish higher than fifth, move to the consolation side of the bracket where they will face old foe Turkey today. The Turks, who came into Belgrade as two-time defending champions, lost 3-0 to the Czech Republic earlier Thursday.

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