OTTAWA — Canada will be aiming to level their record at 2-2 when it plays Serbia on Sunday to cap off the first week of women's Volleyball Nations League action.
Canada slipped to 1-2 with a 3-0 loss to Japan in a best-of-five match played Saturday in front of more than 5,100 spectators at the Arena at TD Place.
Canada dropped the match to Japan 24-26, 20-25, 19-25. The unbeaten Japan squad led in attack points (39-33), serving (7-3) and made fewer errors 19-30).
"Japan is really tough to play against, and we were right there with them," said Canadian setter Brie O'Reilly of Langley, B.C. "We're just missing those after-20 (points) plays and finishing sets.
"We need to stay aggressive and take confidence that there was a lot of our game that was really great."
O'Reilly said the Canadians need to server more aggressively against Serbia and "just keep our block defence systems working a bit more cohesively."
Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey, B.C., led the scoring for Canada with 13 points and also set a personal best with a serve clocked at 113 kilometres per hour.
Yukiko Wada of Japan led her team with 20 points.
Canada opened the VNL schedule with a win over Bulgaria and then lost a Thursday match to Netherlands.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025.
The Canadian Press
