Canada's women stay in hunt for Olympic volleyball berth, outlasting host China

A gutsy and resilient Canadian women's volleyball squad remains in the mix for an Olympic berth.

Emily Maglio's ninth block of the match more than two hours 30 minutes after the first serve sent Canada to a five-set victory on Wednesday over China, site of the qualifying tournament for next summer's Games in Paris.

After the hosts saved match point in the deciding set, Canada outside hitter Kiera Van Ryk collected her team-high 26th point of the match to put her team ahead to stay at 16-15.

Captain Alexa Gray added 24 points for Canada, which prevailed 28-26, 15-25, 25-23, 22-25, 17-15 to even its record at 2-2 in Ningbo. China (3-1) suffered its first loss after sweeping Ukraine, Mexico and the Czech Republic.

"That was an incredibly gutsy game," head coach Shannon Winzer told Volleyball Canada. "This was never going to be won by playing safe and I think every single person on this team dug deep to deliver.

"Tonight was a great reminder of what we are capable of and why this group is so special."

WATCH | Canada ekes out 5-set win over China at Olympic qualifier:

Following a welcomed off-day Thursday after playing five sets in three of its four matches, Canada faces winless Ukraine (0-4) on Friday at 1 a.m. ET that will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. From there, it's No. 23 Mexico (0-4) and the 16th-ranked Czechs (1-3) on the weekend.

The Canadians need a top-two finish in Pool A to secure their spot in Paris. They sit fifth at 2-2 behind Serbia (4-0), China, Netherlands (3-1) and Dominican Republic (3-1), which has its toughest opponents ahead in Serbia (Thursday) and China (Saturday).

They opened play with a 3-2 loss to the Dutch before rebounding to beat the Dominicans by the same score. Canada suffered its second straight loss, falling 3-0 to third-ranked Serbia on Tuesday.

Japan and Turkey are 4-0 atop Pool B, while Italy and United States lead Pool C with identical 4-0 marks.

Six other Olympic spots will be available via world ranking next year.

The Canadian women last qualified in Atlanta 1996, finishing ninth.

Qualifying for Paris would take the Canadian team to an overseas Games for the first time. Other than Atlanta, Canada only featured in Olympic women's volleyball in Los Angeles 1984 and Montreal 1976, finishing eighth in both events.