Canada struggles against Serbia

May 31, 2024.- Canada lost to Serbia in Volleyball Nations League action in Arlington, Texas.

Serbia outplayed Canada to win 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 26-24, 25-20) as the women’s tournament heats up for all teams.

Though Canada led in attacking, 63-55, the team fell short in blocking (10-9), ace serves (6-2), and had more errors 26-17. Scoring was led by Kiera Van Ryk of Canada (20 points) and her teammate middle blocker Emily Maglio (18 points). Aleksandra Uzelac led the winning side with 19 points.

Captain Alexa Gray told VBTV: "We weren’t scoring as easy as we normally do, and we made a few too many errors in all four sets. I think we’re still trying to find our rhythm this week. But we’re still fighting with some of the best teams in the world and we must bounce back for the next match.”

After a nice 3-0 win over Germany yesterday, today's loss puts Canada in a tight position in the battle for a Paris berth, now almost neck and neck with the Netherlands, who beat Dominican Republic earlier today, in the ranking points.

Canada has four wins and three losses so far in VNL 2024. 

Canada plays an important match against Korea on Sunday, June 02, also in Arlington.

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.