Given the excellence of their program, it's becoming something of a yearly tradition to watch a sizeable chunk of the Marauder men's volleyball team suit up for Team Canada. That trend looks set to continue in 2015, as five members of the OUA champion and CIS bronze-medal-winning Marauders have travelled to the Centre Sportif de Gatineau in Gatineau, Quebec for National B and National Junior selection camps.
It's little surprise that OUA Most Valuable Player Danny Demyanenko finds himself among the hopefuls for the National B team, alongside fellow OUA all-star Stephen Maar and middle partner Alex Elliot. They enter a field of athletes comprising the very best of what the CIS has to offer, as well as the members of Volleyball Canada's Full-Time Training Centre (FTC). That selection camp has already begun, running from April 29 to May 4.
On the junior side, OUA Second Team All-Star Brandon Koppers and CIS All-Rookie Team member Andrew Richards will represent McMaster with incoming recruit Stephen Kary when the selection process for the Junior National Team begins on May 6.
The National B Team will operate as understudy to the Senior National Team this summer, stepping in to play at the Pan Am Games in Toronto should the senior team advance to the FIVB World League Finals. The team is guaranteed one international event, however, as they will travel to the United States to take part in the Pan Am Cup from August 9-17.
Meanwhile, the National Junior Team will look forward to a jam-packed summer schedule, beginning with a tune-up event, the Pan Am Cup, in Gatineau between June 21 and 28. Things begin in earnest with the 2015 Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea, where Canada will compete from July 3 to 14. The whirlwind summer season will conclude with the FIVB World Junior Championships — for which Canada qualified by winning NORCECA silver a year ago — held from September 11 and 20 in Mexico.
The duo of Koppers and Richards were instrumental in the successful qualification campaign of 2014, with the former serving as a team leader and starting outside hitter for Canada.
VOLLEYBALL CANADA RELEASE (WITH FULL CAMP ROSTERS
