Vancouver - Prior to donning the blue and gold of the UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team, Byron Keturakis (Surrey, B.C.) and Joel Regehr (Courtenay, B.C.) got the chance to wear the red and white of the Canadian national team, as they took part in the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship.
 
The tournament, which ran from September 12-20, was hosted by Mexico, and featured games in Tijuana's High Performance Sports Centre, as well as Mexicali's Auditorio del Estado. Canada placed eighth overall in the final rankings (among 16 nations), the country's highest finish since the 1999 edition of the tournament, in which they finished fifth.
 
Keturakis proved himself an excellent setter for the national team, placing 10^th overall in the tournament with 44 running sets, while only faulting once.  The highlight of the international experience for the UBC sophomore wasn't something that most people would consider a highlight - it was a loss.
 
"My favourite game of the tournament was our game against Russia," said Keturakis. "We lost that game 3-1, but I thought we played well for the most part against a great team that ended up winning the tournament.  I think that game really gave us some assurance that at our best we could compete with any of the great teams from around the world."
 
Regehr was also a solid contributor for Canada throughout the tournament, with his best performance coming in a 3-2 win over Egypt in Canada's second match. However, for Regehr, the most climactic moment of the competition was a 3-0 win over Mexico.
 
"My favourite game, personally, was our game against Mexico because we got to play against the host country. The atmosphere was really loud and intense to play in. It was also the best game of the tournament for our team."
 
As for Thunderbirds head coach Richard Schick, he's looking forward to using the experience Keturakis and Regehr gained with Canada to his team's advantage.
 
I'm hoping that they're going to bring back some of the experiences that they've learned over the summer," said Schick. "They've both gotten a lot stronger, they had some different coaching, and hopefully they can share some things that they've picked up on. Even just from the other countries that they've played against, the other players, should be useful, because different countries have a variety of different styles of play. I think that their strength, and the speed of the international game, which they've adjusted to, will be key for us, because I want to know that our team is at that same level."
 
The Thunderbirds will open their Canada West regular season this evening, Friday, September 25, 2015 against the Mount Royal Cougars. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. (PT) at War Memorial Gym.