May 29, 2024: Canada kicked off the women’s second week of Volleyball Nations League on Tuesday evening, facing the reigning Olympic champions from the United States in Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center.
Despite coming out aggressively, Canada lost 1-3 (22-25, 17-25, 25-23, 20-25), putting the team’s record at 3-2 so far in VNL action.
Canada led in attack points (59-52), blocks were even at 10 and serves favoured Canada 4-3. The difference maker last night was the 33 points USA received from Canada’s errors (compared with 11).
“It’s tough to beat a top team in the world when you make 33 errors,” explains Canada’s head coach, Shannon Winzer. “We have a few things we need to clean up, but we also continue to do a lot right and we are still in a good position for a strong round. Going into our next game against Germany we want to go back to controlling the ‘controllables’ and being patient in attack. Our subs continue to do a great job for us and our whole team is willing to do whatever is needed to get the job done.”
Canada’s attack was led by Alexa Gray with 23 points and Kiera Van Ryk with 20. Emily Maglio was also solid for Canada in the middle with eight attack points and three blocks. USA’s Kathryn Plummer led the winning side with 16 points and Jordan Larson and Jordan Thompson had 15 each.
Canada is still seeking an Olympic berth based on its rankings after the preliminary round of VNL. The USA is already qualified for the Paris Games.
The next match for Canada is Germany on May 30 at 17:00 Eastern time (16:00 local time in Arlington, Texas).
Viewers guide:
-All matches are streamed on VBTV and CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
-VNL Web site: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-nations-league/
The women’s team is still in contention to qualify for Paris 2024 via the World Rankings.
Seven women’s teams are already qualified for the Games. The remaining five places are filled by selecting the top five not yet qualified teams in the FIVB World Ranking as of the end of the preliminary phase of Volleyball Nations League.
VNL Roster Week 2
Brie O’Reilly – Langley, BC
Courtney Baker – Bridgewater, NS
Emily Maglio – Coquitlam, BC
Jazmine White – Oshawa, ON
Alicia Ogoms – Winnipeg, MB
Layne Van Buskirk – Windsor, ON
Alexa Gray (C) – Calgary, AB
Hilary Johnson – Calgary, AB
Andrea Mitrovic – Mississauga, ON
Vicky Savard – Jonquière, QC
Kiera Van Ryk – Surrey, BC
Shainah Joseph – Ottawa, ON
Julia Murmann – Toronto, ON
Kacey Jost – St. Albert, AB
Staff:
Shannon Winzer – Head coach
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
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
