Volleyball News: On Friday (05/17), Canada scored a big victory at VNL 2024 that brought it closer to the Paris Olympics, beating China 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22) in Rio.

Canada gained an additional 11.01 points in the world rankings with its victory and reached a total of 286.92 points, significantly closing the gap with the Netherlands (289.31), the last team in the qualification zone, but remaining in 11th place.

At the same time, China lost one place and fell to seventh place.

Kiera Van Ryk and Alexa Gray combined for 48 points in the match, with the opposing team totaling 27 points (25 kills, two aces) and Canada’s outside hitter and captain adding 21 points (19 kills, two aces).

“We know how important each set is, so we really try to stay focused on each point,” setter Brie O’Reilly said.

“You don’t get many opportunities to play against teams ranked much higher than you, so when you get one, you have to take advantage of it. We did it last night (against the Dominican Republic) and now we let’s do it again.

“Now we have to stay focused against Thailand. It’s difficult to find a balance between chasing our big dreams and staying involved in every match, but we did a good job.”

In other results, hosts Brazil entered the weekend as the only undefeated team in Pool 2 of the 2024 VNL, with the South Americans beating the United States in four sets.

Playing in front of thousands of fans, Brazil, who beat Canada on Tuesday and Korea on Thursday, showed strength to edge the Olympic winners 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 18-25, 25-19 ) and still in the lead. leading the VNL ranking with nine points.

Article label: VNL 2024, Canada, China