May 13, 2023:  Brazil (men) and the U.S. (women) won the ParaVolley PanAmerica Zonal Championship (May 9 to 13) in Edmonton. These two teams also earned the Paralympic berth from this qualifier. 

Earlier today, Canada’s men’s team won the tournament bronze medal over Argentina. Then Brazil took gold over the U.S. men to secure a position in the Paralympic Games. 

The USA women won the best of five series (3-2) over Canada and the women's spot in Paris 2024. In the women’s final match today, however, Canada won in five sets. 

Post-match quotes:

Jeff Smith, head coach of Canada (men): "You always want to finish with a win. We bounced back and we were able to get a lot out of our up-and-coming athletes, so that’s positive.

"Next steps, we will train for the World Cup and then learn about the last-chance qualifier. I think we have an amazing shot to win the last-chance qualifier. We will refocus and we’ll get back in August and ramp up for World Cup. We want to be in that top 8!”

Bryce Foster, Canadian men’s team player: “Overall this week this team learned how to battle adversity. There were a couple of wrenches thrown at us and every day we showed up and were ready to play. At the end of the day, that’s all we ask of our guys. We are really proud of the amount of growth we’ve seen with the team and being here on home soil has been an absolute blast!”
 
Nicole Ban, Canada’s head coach (women): "We need to focus on the first three games (from this tournament) for the takeaways. We battled hard and we got to 20 in most sets. We really need to go back and look at those games and break down where we are losing points and where we can earn some more points in the future.

"We’re back at it in late June; going to the Netherlands in July and then building toward the World Cup that’s in November, which is when the next qualification opportunity is.”

May 13 results:
BRONZE – Men (CAN v ARG) 3-0 (25-18, 23-13, 25-11)  
GOLD – Men (BRA v USA) 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19)    
Final Match - Women  (CAN v USA)  3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-12, 22-25, 17-15)

May 12:
Men’s Semifinal (Brazil vs. ARG) 3-0 (25-9, 25-12, 25-8)
W - CAN vs. USA (25-18, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25,15-11) (match 4 of 5)
Men’s Semifinal (Canada vs USA) 2-3 (19-25, 25-22, 25-27, 25-22, 12-15)

May 11:
M – USA v. ARG 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-13, 25-15)
M - CAN v. BRA 0-3  (11-25, 18-25, 17-25)
W - CAN v. USA 1-3  (22-25, 23-25, 25-19, 21-25)

May 10:
Men - BRA v. ARG 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-11)
Women - CAN v. USA 1-3 (25-18, 16-25, 20-25,11-25)
Men - CAN vs. USA 1-3 (26-28, 22-25, 25-20, 23-25)

May 9 :
Men - BRA v. USA 3-1  (25-20, 22-25, 25-19, 25-23)
Men - CAN v. ARG  3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-11)
Women - CAN v. USA  2-3 (25-21, 25-18, 16-25, 17-25,12-15)

Canada men's roster
#2 Mikael Bartholdy — Calgary, AB
#3 Austin Hinchey — Edmonton, AB
#5 Nasif Chowdhury — Toronto, ON
#6 Bryce Foster — Thunder Bay, ON
#7 Douglas Learoyd (C) — Calgary, AB
#9 Andrew Tucker — Brampton, ON
#10 Christopher Bird — Brandon, MB
#11 José Rebelo — Saint-Hubert, Que.
#12 Nicholas Aldrich — Toronto, ON
#14 Connor Compton — Calgary, ON
#19 Jason Beaman — Vancouver, BC
#20 Jesse Buckingham — Toronto, ON
 
Canada women's roster
#2 Julie Kozun — Melfort, SK
#3 Danielle Ellis (C) — White Rock, BC
#4 Jennifer Oakes — Calgary, AB
#5 Payden Vair — Cardston, AB
#6 Angelena Dolezar — St. Albert, AB
#7 Anne Fergusson — Carleton Place, ON
#9 Sarah Melenka — Vegreville, AB
#10 Jayme Lepp — Vancouver, BC
#11 Heidi Peters — Neerlandia, AB
#14 Katelyn Wright — Edmonton, AB
#15 Felicia Voss-Shafiq — Burnaby, BC
#16 Jennifer McCreesh — Smithers, BC
#17 Allison Lang — Edmonton, AB
 

• ParaVolley Pan America: https://paravolleypanam.com
• Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pvpa-wpv/albums
   
• Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
  Jackie Skender
  jskender@volleyball.ca
  Mobile: 613-794-7676