By Bev Oden

The FloVolleyball Olympics Rankings will count down to the start of the indoor volleyball competition in Rio, highlighting one team per gender each day. Today, we start with the Cameroon women and the Mexico men, who rank No. 12 on our list.

COUNTRY: Mexico

TOP PLAYERS

Carlos Guerra, Outside Hitter
Daniel Vargas, Opposite

RISING STAR TO WATCH

Jorge Barajas | 25 | Outside Hitter
Mexico's top scorer at World League and Olympic qualifier

SYNOPSIS

Mexico will return to the Olympics for the first time since 1968 when it automatically qualified for Mexico City as the host country. This is a program on the rise that earned its Olympic berth with a victory at the FIVB's final qualifier. Although the Mexico men shared identical win-loss records with two other teams, they won the tie-breaker on points to punch their ticket to Rio. Mexico showed promise earlier this year with a third-place finish at the North American qualifier in January. Coming back from a 0-2 deficit, the team beat Puerto Rico in five to earn a spot at the final qualifier, where it clinched the bid.

PREDICTION

Mexico will rely heavily on captain Carlos Guerra's hitting and serving, but overall, there are few weapons on the squad that can match the teams it will meet in Rio. The team is unlikely to advance from the preliminary round. Should the Mexico men get hot, they may take a set or two off of Canada, but are not expected to challenge any opponents for match wins.

FloVolleyball Men's 2016 Olympics Rankings

12. Mexico

11. Egypt

10.Cuba

9. Canada