Sept. 02, 2023: In front of more than 2,500 loud home-country fans, Canada fought but fell to the Dominican Republic 1-3 (25-27, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25) today at the 2023 NORCECA Senior Women’s Volleyball Continental Championship at the PEPS’ Amphithéatre Desjardins-Université Laval.

The semifinal contest was close, with both teams exchanging leads throughout the match. Dominican Republic took a more commanding advantage (9-17) in the fourth set, but still Canada thrilled the crowd in an attempted comeback, only to see Dominican close the set 20-25.

"It wasn’t the result we wanted, but I actually thought we played pretty good volleyball... at no stage did we give up,” said Canada’s head coach Shannon Winzer. "Everyone who came on court did really well and I thought we battled. It’s hard to lose a game like that knowing we played pretty good volleyball, but Dominican has been playing great volleyball. They were the team that came out on top tonight.

"We want that bronze; our goal has been top three and we would have liked to be in that gold-medal match, but we’ll take a bronze. Cuba has been playing well, so we have to re-group and re-focus. “

Although Canada led in attack points (58-53), the Dominican team led in block points (11-8) and ace serves (8-2). The Dominican Republic received more points from Canada’s errors (28-24)

Gaila Gonzalez led the Dominican team’s scoring effort with 16 points (13 attack points; 1 block and 2 aces); followed by Yonkaira Peña with 15. Canada’s Kiera Van Ryk (Surrey, BC) led all scorers with 25 points.

Team Dominican Republic, also known as the Reinas Del Caribe, now faces the United States in the gold-medal match on Sunday; while Canada takes on Cuba for the bronze medal.

Team Canada:
3 – Kiera Van Ryk, Surrey, BC
4 - Vicky Savard, Jonquière, QC
5 - Julia Murmann, Toronto, ON
6 - Jazmine White, Oshawa, ON
7 - Layne Van Buskirk, Windsor, 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.
26 – Quinn Pelland, Wanham, AB
Head coach : Shannon Winzer

Viewers’ guide

-In English, all countries:
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/streaming-schedule

-Results & photos: www.norceca.net

-In French, Radio-Canada Website : radio-canada.ca/sports
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Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676

Photo: Mathieu Belanger/NORCECA