A tidy win for Canada in VNL action

May 30, 2024.- Canada's women's team made a statement today with a 3-0 sweep of Germany in Volleyball Nations League (VNL) in Arlington, Texas. 

The set scores were 25-20, 25-15, 25-22. Canada led in attacking (54-40), blocking (8-3), serving (7-3), but had five more errors than Germany.

"We took care of business today,” said head coach Shannon Winzer. "Our game plan was to take out the German middle attack and it starts with service pressure and then finishes with our executing our blocking assignments. The team did a great job of following the game plan and everyone did their jobs today."

Canada's Alexa Gray led scoring with 19 points; followed by teammates Kiera Van Ryk with 15, including three aces, and Emily Maglio also with 15 points. Lena Stigrot led Germany in scoring with 11 points.

Canada has four wins and two losses so far in this VNL season.

Setter Brie O'Reilly told VBTV post-match: "I was expecting us to fight really hard; we know how important this week is. I felt like we approached this game focused, point by point and like we were on a mission!”

Concluded Winzer: "It was a very good game and hopefully something we can continue to build on to take on Serbia tomorrow."

Canada plays 7th-ranked Serbia on Friday, also in Texas, at 4:30 local; 5:30 pm ET.

The women’s team is still in contention to qualify for Paris 2024 via the World Rankings.