August 29, 2024: Team Canada’s women’s sitting volleyball team kicked off the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-21, 25-12) sweep over Slovenia.
 
“We're more than ready and we're so excited to be here and to be started and to have a win in three sets is exactly what we wanted to do. The second set was a bit closer than we would have liked, but we battled and we want to see that before we see a tough team in our next game," said head coach Nicole Ban. 
 
“I couldn't be prouder of the athletes to go out there and compete with friends with family, with the bright lights shining and that's one check mark off of our long list of accomplishments we have.”
 
Team captain Danielle Ellis and veteran Jennifer Oakes, two of seven athletes making their third Paralympic appearance, led the way for Team Canada with 14 points each. Peters was right behind them with 10 points. Defensively, Felicia Voss-Shafiq helped shut down Slovenia with eight blocks and Sarah Melenka had six.

“Our team has been really raring to go,” Oakes said. “This has been building for a long time, obviously a lot of training the last summer, the last quad, but also within the last nine to 10 years we've been building this program. We've been building up to this point and I think it's just really coming together. We feel really great.”

On top of the seven three-peat Paralympics, nine athletes on this roster are back from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. One of the biggest differences between the previous Paralympics and this edition is the inclusion of friends and family in the stands, cheering the team on.

“We haven’t really seen them (since we’ve been here), this is the first time we're seeing our friends and family,” Ban explained. “I told (the team) in the locker room before to make sure that they make eye contact and wave at their friends and family at the very beginning so they know what that feels like and they know that they're there because if not, it could be a distraction during the game.

“But really they embraced it, they showed up and they played and now I'm excited for them to get to hug their loved ones, to get to feel their presence here because that truly matters. They're part of this adventure and they're part of this journey. I couldn't be happier that so many people are here for them.”

“I think it's a huge aspect, that we're all really grateful for that our families and friends can come and watch and that people from France can come,” Oakes added. “Obviously, we're always trying to grow the sport, grow Para sport, and this is such a great way to do it. To have people actually be able to be involved and be able to cheer."

Canada is in Pool B with Brazil, Slovenia, and Rwanda. They’ll face each team once in the preliminary round with the top two teams in the pool moving on to the Semifinals.

The Canadian sitting women will face off against Brazil on August 31 at 8 pm local time and wrap up the round-robin against Rwanda on September 2 at 6 pm local time.

Full schedule and results: paralympic.org and World ParaVolley

Media attaché in Paris: Courtney Killion
Photo: World ParaVolley