Sept 17, 2023: It was another marathon match for Canada in Ningbo, China, on Sunday at the women’s FIVB Olympic Qualification Tournament (OQT).
Today, however, it was their opponent, Dominican Republic, coming out on the winning side of the tie break 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12).
“Today was a tough loss against Dominican,” said Canada’s head coach, Shannon Winzer. “These games come down to small things in key moments and they finished out on top today. We face Serbia next and will keep working to find consistency in attack against another physical team.”
The Dominican team, recent Continental Championship gold medalists, led in attack points (79-58) and blocks (10-5). While Canada led in aces (6-3) and received more points from opponent errors (28-18).
- More stats: https://bit.ly/45SOQTC
Alex Gray (25 points) and Kiera Van Ryk (23) led Canada in scoring. Gaila Gonzalez topped the scoring charts for the Dominican team with 25 points (20 attacks, four blocks and an ace).
Both Canada and Dominican Republic were coming off five-set openers – Canada a win over Netherlands; and Dominican a loss to Czechia. Up next in the round-robin, Canada plays Serbia, which takes place Sept. 18 at 10 pm Eastern (Sept. 19 at 10 am local).
So far in this group (Pool A), China and Serbia have 2-0 records. Netherlands, Dominican Republic, Canada and Czechia are 1-1, while Mexico and Ukraine have yet to find a win.
Each OQT pool is played in a single round robin format and is ranked per the standard team rankings system. There are three pools and the top two ranked teams per pool qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Full schedule is here.
The men’s tournament is Sept. 30 to Oct. 08, with Canada also competing in China.
Team Canada:
3 – Kiera Van Ryk, Surrey, BC
4 – Vicky Savard, Jonquière, QC
5 – Julia Murmann, Toronto, ON
6 – Jazmine White, Oshawa, ON
8 – Alicia Ogoms, Winnipeg, MB
9 – Alexa Gray, Calgary, AB
11 – Andrea Mitrovic, Mississauga, ON
13 – Brie King, Langley, BC
14 – Hilary Howe, Calgary, AB
15 – Shaïnah Joseph, Ottawa, ON
17 – Kacey Jost, St. Albert, AB
19 – Emily Maglio, Coquitlam, B.C.
21 – Avery Heppell, Langley, B.C.
26 – Quinn Pelland, Wanham, AB
Head coach: Shannon Winzer
Vincenzo Mallia – Asst. coach
Matt Krueger – Asst. coach
Kevin Valcke – Physiotherapist
Gabriele Tortorici – Statistician
Rob Hooper – IST lead
Hilary Mallinger – Physiotherapist
Roger Friesen – Mental performance coach
Julien Boucher – High performance director
Jennah Paron – Team coordinator
Viewing Guide:
In Canada, www.cbcsports.ca
Worldwide: VBTV
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
Photo: Volleyball World
