Aug. 23: Canada won its opener at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship today in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

The Canadians beat Bulgaria 3-1 (25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18).

"I am proud of the girls," said Canada’s head coach Giovanni Guidetti, who is in his first year with the team. “It was a very important match for us and we were ready to fight and the quality of our game was pretty good for most of the match. Now our focus is on Spain, which can be a very dangerous team that can play very fast.”   

Canada led in attack points (51-46), blocks (13-6) and aces (5-3). And although total points from errors were equal at 29, Bulgaria struggled, specifically with multiple serve rotation errors in the second set. They cleaned up their act in the third, but Canada kept putting on the pressure and gained back the momentum to win in four sets.

Veteran Andrea Mitrovic led Canada in scoring with 17 points. Middle blocker Nyadholi Thokbuom had 15 points, which included 12 kills and three blocks.

Watch on CBC-TV at 4 pm EDT today.

Canada is in Pool E with Bulgaria, Türkiye and Spain. Also today, highest ranked in this pool, Türkiye, defeated Spain 3-0.  Canada plays Spain on Monday, Aug. 25, 4 pm local; 5 am EDT.

All Canadian matches will be shown on CBC Sports, and the full tournament is available on VBTV (also free to members of Volleyball Canada).

Pool E Schedule
August 23 – Canada vs. Bulgaria – 16:00 local time (ICT) / 5 am ET
August 23 – Türkiye vs. Spain – 19:30 local time
August 25 – Canada vs. Spain – 16:00 local time
August 25 – Türkiye vs. Bulgaria – 19:30 local time
August 27 – Türkiye vs. Canada – 16:00 local time
August 27 – Bulgaria vs. Spain – 19:30 local time

Roster:
Courtney Baker (S) - Bridgewater, NS
Quinn Pelland (S) -  Wanham, AB
Kacey Jost (L) - St. Albert, AB
Julia Murmann (L) - Toronto, ON
Emily Maglio (MB) C - Coquitlam, BC
Jessica Andrews (MB) - Guelph, ON
Nyadholi Thokbuom (MB) - Calgary, AB
Abby Guezen (OH) - Sherwood Park, AB 
Andrea Mitrovic (OH) - Mississauga, ON
Hilary Johnson (OH) - Calgary, AB
Thana Fayad (OH) - Victoria, B.C. 
Vicky Savard (OH) -  Jonquière, QC
Anna Smrek (OPP) - Welland, ON
Lucy Borowski (OPP) - Vancouver, BC
 
Staff:
Giovanni Guidetti (Head Coach)
Vincenzo Mallia (Assistant Coach)
Carolyn O’Dwyer (Assistant Coach)
Ahmet Ersimsek (Assistant Coach)
Lydia Maxwell (Medical Lead)
Fatih Yagci (Statistician)
Mary Claire Geneau (IST Lead)
Sandy Heming (Physiotherapist)
Kelvin Ma (Team Lead)
Shannon Winzer (High Performance Director)

• Watch all matches on VBTV.

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