Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Eric Loeppky has been savoring the support of Filipino fans as Canada went undefeated in three outings in the Philippine leg of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) men’s final elimination round.
The 25-year-old outside hitter is not entirely unfamiliar with the Filipino crowd as Loeppky was part of the Canadian lineup that arrived on local shores last year with a similar goal in mind.
More than playing in the presence of the adoring local fans, the energy is rubbing off on Loeppky and his teammates to put on a great show for the host nation as they make their last push for a spot in the Final Eight which will be held in Poland anew.
After turning back fan favorite Japan in a hard-earned five-set win on the opening day of the tournament in Manila three days prior, Canada followed it up with a dominant victory over Germany before coming up with a similar drubbing of heavily favored Brazil, 26-24, 25-19, 26-24, on Friday afternoon, June 21, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“Obviously, it’s a huge win, a lot of emotions. I’m super pumped about that game especially I feel like it was really a team win, we won together. I think that’s why we won. We’re just focused on the next game, and trying to book our ticket to the final eight,” said Loeppky, who turned in a game-high 21 points built on 16 attacks, two blocks and three service aces to help Canada secure the upset win.
“I think it’s been a build up, every week if you’ve been following along, we’ve been getting better from week one, so it’s really coming together for us. And we just want to keep on improving and getting better,” he added.
The Canadians were hanging tough to an even 4-4 record heading into the Philippines for the final week of the eliminations, just behind the Japanese side in the standings.
Following their three straight wins, Canada has now simultaneously captured the hearts of the Filipinos and moved inside the top four with a 7-4 card to trail top seed Slovenia, Italy and Poland.
With the meteoric rise of Philippine volleyball, the support of Filipinos for the game goes beyond the local scene, which for Loeppky, makes their visit all the more exciting.
“I was really surprised with how many people came out for our 3 o’clock match on a Friday. I’m really grateful, you guys have all been amazing, keep it up,” he said.
With even higher stakes awaiting them, the Canadian spiker is looking to come out a better squad heading into the final phase of the tournament in Europe, which also serves as their training ground for the Paris Olympics next month.
Loeppky also insisted that eventually peaking at the right time did not come off surprising for him as it was all part of their build up to the most important part of the competition, where it all matters.
“We still have so much to work on and I feel like we can still be a lot better in a lot of areas. I think we’re just trying to keep doing better at every skill that we can. We’ll see how it goes,” said Loeppky.
“It’s not too much time to practice, we gotta manage our bodies with the heavy schedule, so I think we’re kind of using these games to train us for the Olympics. VNL is a pretty important tournament. But for the summer, the Olympics is the big one. So we are trying to peak up to that.” — Nikole Javier
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
