May 14, 2024: Canada’s women’s team opened its Volleyball Nations League 2024 campaign in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday evening.

It was a hard-fought 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 26-24, 25-12) win for the world-ranked number three Brazil home team, with Canada still fighting for an Olympic spot, and is at 11th spot in rankings (as of May 15). 

"Playing Brazil in Brazil is tough. I thought we battled hard the first three sets. For a first game it was a solid performance. We need to clean up our serving and our block/defense, but I think we set a high standard for the competition in the first game and it’s a solid start from which to build," said Canada’s head coach Shannon Winzer.

Though Canada led in attack points (55-53), Brazil dominated in blocking (15-5) and Brazil earned more points from errors (27-20) – the teams were equal in service points (5-5). Canada’s Alexa Gray led scoring with 23 points.

"The road to qualification is going to be long," admits Winzer. "We have another 11 games to play in VNL. We will keep focusing on one point at a time never getting too far ahead of ourselves."

Viewers guide:
-Next match is against continental zone opponents Dominican Republic on May 16.
-All matches are streamed on VBTV and CBC Sports and CBC Gem.
-VNL Web site: https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/volleyball-nations-league/

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.

VNL Roster Week 1
Brie O'Reilly – Langley, BC
Courtney Baker - Bridgewater, NS
Emily Maglio – Coquitlam, BC
Jazmine White – Oshawa, ON
Alicia Ogoms – Winnipeg, MB
Layne Van Buskirk – Windsor, ON
Alexa Gray (C) – Calgary, AB
Hilary Johnson – Calgary, AB
Andrea Mitrovic – Mississauga, ON
Vicky Savard – Jonquière, QC
Kiera Van Ryk – Surrey, BC
Shainah Joseph – Ottawa, ON
Julia Murmann – Toronto, ON
Kacey Jost – St. Albert, AB

Staff:
Head coach : Shannon Winzer
Vincenzo Mallia - Asst. coach
Matt Krueger - Asst. coach
Kevin Valcke - Physiotherapist
Gabriele Tortorici - Statistician
Rob Hooper - IST lead
Hilary Mallinger - Physiotherapist
Roger Friesen - Mental performance coach
Julien Boucher - High performance director
Jennah Paron - Team coordinator

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676