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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, May 24, 2013 | 28 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports H A C T R A C K A N D F I E L D "Connected to your Community" G Lewis, Canadian volleyball team in Mississauga next month Oakville native Dan Lewis and the Canadian men's volleyball team will play international matches the first two weekends of June at Mississauga's Hershey Centre. Canada will take on Portugal in two matches June 7-8 and Korea June 14-15 as part of Volleyball World League, an annual men's national team volleyball tournament that reaches all corners of the planet, offering millions in prize money and worldwide television coverage. Lewis, a T.A. Blakelock grad, has been part of the national team for more than a decade. The veteran libero has played professional volleyball in Europe the past several seasons. Dan Lewis Canada's two matches in Mississauga will be preceded by the first weekend of competition, May 31-June 1 in Quebec City, when Canada faces the Netherlands. The Hershey Centre was host to Canada versus Brazil in World League competition in 2007, when the teams played in front of sold-out crowds. "The last time we staged World League matches here... the atmosphere was electric," said John Barrett, 1984 Olympian and honourary president for the Mississauga World League matches. "We have a lot of volleyball players and fans in Mississauga and the greater Toronto region, so I am confident that we will once again fill the stands." Canada faced Brazil last year at Toronto's Ricoh Centre, drawing more than 7,000 fans in Canada's first World League appearance in five years. Canada finished 12th overall to automatically qualify for this year's tournament. "It's extremely important for Canada to measure itself against the best, and World League offers us that special opportunity," Canadian head coach Glenn Hoag said. "Our quadrennial objective is to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio, so all our training and competition is structured around this objective." Following the home matches in Quebec City and Mississauga, Canada will conclude its World League preliminary round Pool C matches in Finland June 28-29 and Japan July 6-7. Six teams will qualify for the World League Finals in Argentina, featuring the top two teams from Pools A and B, plus the winner of Pool C and Argentina as the host country. Tickets for the Mississauga matches can be purchased online through Ticketmaster. T.A. Blakelock student Julia Scott (centre) leads the way during a midget girls' 80-metre hurdles heat Wednesday at the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) track-and-field championships in Hamilton. Also pictured are Scott's teammate Alexandra Moyssakas (left) and a Burlington Central competitor. Scott finished fourth in the 80m hurdles final, which was won by Blakelock's Kaleigh Jeffrey. Elexa Stolzer of Garth Webb was second, and Blakelock's Hazel Brown was third. The top five finishers in the race advanced to the south regional championships, which will be held next week in St. Catharines. Full results from the GHAC meet will appear next week in the Beaver. For more photos from the meet, log onto http://bit.ly/11f8sOA. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Local gymnast strikes gold at Eastern Canadians St. Mary Catholic elementary school student Anysa Meze won the Provincial Level 4 all-around title at the Eastern Canadian gymnastics championships earlier this month in St. John's, Nfld. Meze, 12, racked up 52.284 points to finish comfortably ahead of second-place finisher Jordan Kristie Popov of Quebec. Meze admitted she was a bit surprised to be an Eastern Canadian champion, particularly since the best she had ever fared at the provincial level before this season was a sixth-place finish two years ago. Meze was ninth at the Ontario championships last season, but won all three provincial qualifying events she entered this year and also claimed overall gold at the all-Ontario meet. "I just kept practising everything and making sure it was all good," said Meze, who started at Oakville Gymnastics Club at the age of five but transferred to the Burlington Gymnastics Club four years later. "I think sometimes I do train harder than other people." The beam and floor, Meze's strongest events, keyed her success at easterns. She finished first in both events and added a third-place showing on the vault, more than offsetting an eighth-place effort on the bars. "Floor is my favourite," she said. "I just like tumbling and dancing and all that." --Jon Kuiperij Oakville resident Anysa Meze performs her floor routine at the Eastern Canadian gymnastics championships earlier this month in Newfoundland.| photo submitted