Canadian women open Olympic volleyball qualifier with 5-set win over the Netherlands
CBC
The Canadian women's volleyball team started its bid to end a 28-year Olympic drought with a victory on Saturday.
Calgary's Alexa Gray scored 28 points to lead Canada to 3-2 victory (32-30, 19-25, 15-25, 25-17 and 15-13) over the Netherlands in Ningbo, China.
Ranked 11th in the world, Canada went the distance in the first set before seeing its offence lose momentum to allow No. 9 Netherlands to take a 2-1 lead. The Canadian women came back stronger in the fourth set to force and win a tiebreaker.
Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey, B.C., added 19 points for Canada. Emily Maglio of Coquitlam, B.C., and Calgary's Hilary Howe also reached double digits, with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Celeste Plak led the Dutch squad with 23 points, followed by Nika Daalderop with 21.
WATCH l Canada prevails in 5-set opener in China:
Canada returns to the court Sunday against the Dominican Republic at 4 a.m. ET. The match will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.
Canada needs a top-two finish in its group to qualify for the Paris Olympics next summer, while six other spots will be available via world ranking next year.
The remainder of Pool A features Canada's rival, No. 6 China, along with second-ranked Serbia, Dominican Republic (No. 10) Czech Republic (No. 16), Mexico (No. 23) and Ukraine (No. 18).
WATCH | Full coverage of Saturday's match: Canada vs. Netherlands:
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