Resilient Canadians swept away at world volleyball championships by defending Olympic champion USA

« We’re not backing down against these guys. »

Those words were head coach Shannon Winzer’s attempt to keep her Canadian volleyball players motivated late in a tough opening set Monday against world No. 1, the United States.

They worked as the Canadians put up a solid effort in the 81-minute game but couldn’t overcome the reigning Olympic champions, who prevailed 25-19, 26-24, 25-15 in the world championship FIVB in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

The 2014 world champions of the United States improved to 2-0 and sit atop Group C while Canada sits fifth (0-2). Kazakhstan is also 0-2 and will face Canada on Thursday in Lodz, Poland (CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem, 7 a.m. ET).

The teams are divided into four pools of six teams each for the preliminary phase. The top four from each group advance to the second stage, where they are again divided into two groups.

The remaining 16 clubs play four matches against opponents they did not face in the preliminary stage, with the best of each group advancing to the quarter-finals.