Canada swept Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-18) for its first win in the team’s second Volleyball Nations League match of the season in Shreveport–Bossier City, Louisiana, last night.
Canada typically struggles against its NORCECA rivals from the Caribbean country, who were eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, but last night looked confident with Alexa Gray leading with 19 points. Kiera Van Ryk contributed 18 with three from the service line.
Canada opened with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20) loss to Poland on Wednesday night. Gray also led in points (19) for this match.
“After the match with Poland, we were a little bit nervous, and we just wanted to play free – we talked a lot about serving pressure to get the other team out of system more and maybe get a few more high-ball looks, and we went back to the service line and we did that,” Gray said in the post-match interview. “We came out with a lot of energy with Poland and this match we were able to sustain that. Our serving pressure helped us keep them on their heels.”
Canada plays the Olympic gold medalists and hosts of this VNL week, USA, on Friday night at 9 pm EDT (8 pm local).
After the U.S., the women’s team heads to the Philippines, and then back to Canada for the third leg, June 28 to July 03 (Seven Chiefs Sportsplex, Tsuut’ina Nation).
