The Canadians nabbed the third place in the Pan American Games after defeating Puerto Rico three sets to one.
Establishing themselves as the home team, Canada dominated the game early, winning the first two sets 25-11 and 25-12.
Meanwhile, the Puerto Ricans had put up a fight in the third set giving them a 25-23 victory. They also took control of the first few minutes of the fourth set, but the Canadians recovered and pulled away, making the most of Puerto Rico's unforced errors and producing big serves.
"Part of the reason we played so well is Puerto Rico played so poorly in the first two sets," said Canada's Frederic Winters. "They played better in the third and in the fourth, but we kept our composure, which was nice to see."
Team captain Gavin Schmitt of Saskatoon led the team with 25 points, converting 19 of 27 spike attempts and scoring four points with his booming serve.
Creston, B.C.'s Gord Perrin added 14 points for Canada, with Calgary's Rudy Verhoeff scoring 13.
On the other hand, Hector Soto and Ezequiel Cruz had 11 points apiece for Puerto Rico.
"It's nice to medal on home soil," Canada's Adam Simac said it was good to see his team step up in the bronze-medal game. "It's not the colour we were looking for, it's not the colour that we had envisioned ourselves winning a few weeks ago when we really talked about this in all seriousness.
"I'm really proud of the guys for bouncing back today after a subpar performance against Argentina."
Canada got a huge disappointment losing to Argentina 3-1 in the semi-finals last Friday.
Canada got a huge disappointment losing to Argentina 3-1 in the semi-finals last Friday.
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