Sep the 19 Indoor Women Senior
Canada struggles in match with Serbia at OQT
Sept. 19, 2023: Serbia defeated Canada 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-21) early Tuesday in Ningbo, China at the at the women’s FIVB Olympic Qualification Tournament (OQT).
“Serbia is number three in the world for a reason and are an incredibly physical team but I don’t think we had our best performance today,” said Shannon Winzer, Canada’s head coach. "Our blocking and defense were disjointed and I think at times we played within ourselves instead of the competitive aggressive team that you’ve gotten used to seeing. Tomorrow, we face China, another top team, and we have to go back to finding confidence in our style of play and the things that we know we can do well."
Serbia dominated in its attack (45-32) and serving points (8-1) and had the edge over Canada in blocking points (9-7). Serbia did lose four more points to errors than its opponent. Stats: https://bit.ly/46l7G5H
Tijana Boškovic of Serbia led scoring with 25 points, including four aces. Serbia held off Canada’s typically effective attackers, with Alexa Gray, Kiera Van Ryk and Hilary Howe each scoring nine points today.
Serbia is 3-0; while Canada is 1-2 in the tournament so far.
Canada plays China next on Sept. 20.
Each OQT pool is played in a single round robin format and is ranked per the standard team rankings system. There are three pools and the top two ranked teams per pool qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Full schedule is here.
The men’s tournament is Sept. 30 to Oct. 08, with Canada also competing in China.
Team Canada:
3 – Kiera Van Ryk, Surrey, BC
4 - Vicky Savard, Jonquière, QC
5 - Julia Murmann, Toronto, ON
6 - Jazmine White, Oshawa, ON
8 - Alicia Ogoms, Winnipeg, MB
9 - Alexa Gray, Calgary, AB
11 - Andrea Mitrovic, Mississauga, ON
13 - Brie King, Langley, BC
14 - Hilary Howe, Calgary, AB
15 - Shaïnah Joseph, Ottawa, ON
17 - Kacey Jost, St. Albert, AB
19 - Emily Maglio, Coquitlam, B.C.
21 – Avery Heppell, Langley, B.C.
26 – Quinn Pelland, Wanham, AB
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
Viewing Guide:
In Canada, www.cbcsports.ca
Worldwide: VBTV
Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676
Photo: Volleyball World