Kiera Van Ryk scored 24 points carrying Canada to over United States in five sets 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-8) to win the bronze medal at the Women’s NORCECA Continental Championship at Arena Astros of Guadalajara, Mexico.

 

Kiera took matters in her “serves” while recovering Canada from a three-point deficit (1-4) in the fifth to reach a 6-4 lead and breaking the U.S. receiving line up to the bronze medal finish.

 

Van Ryk led with 17 kills, 4 serves and added 3 blocks of her 24 points, middle blocker Jennifer Cross contributed with 15 points on 10 kills, leading blocks with 4 and one ace, and outside hitter Hilary Howe added 14 points.

 

This is Canada’s second bronze in a row; they now have two silvers and ten bronze medals. The U.S. has won the most number of medals, with a total of 23.

 

Canada led in kills 50-49, in blocks 16-11 and in serves 8-11; they handed out 32 points from errors while benefiting from 31 of United States.

 

The U.S. top scorer was opposite player Veronica Perry with 21 points followed by outside hitter Alexandra Frantti with 14 points; middle blockers Rachael Kramer and Corissa Crocker tallied 9 points each.

 

Kiera Van Ryk, leading scorer: “I was thinking the whole game on my serve because I had missed many, so when I was at the serve in the fifth set I just knew I could hit it and believe in myself, and I knew my team got my back”.

 

Jennifer Cross, Captain of Canada: “It was a really close game, we came up and down but we came out on top, it was amazing. I think the difference was that we wanted it more, we were super aggressive and made good decisions”.

 

Shannon Winzer, Coach of Canada: “Kiera made an unbelievable difference, she showed up today and I think we got to see the Kiera Van Ryk that we were used to seeing in the VNL, her coming back in the fifth and serving like that, won us the game. Everyday we’ve asked our players to have that warrior mindset, we were still up and down but we were just warriors today”.

 

Joseph Trinsey, Coach of United States: “We gave away too many opportunities, in execution serving-pass, we gave really good servings once too many times and then Van Ryk showed up at the right time”.