Canada's women's volleyball team advances to VNL Finals for 1st time

Canada's women's volleyball team advances to VNL Finals for 1st time

Canadians finish preliminary phase with 8-4 record, going 3-1 in final week

Canada's women's volleyball team secured a spot in the Volleyball Nations League Finals for the first time on Sunday with a four-set win over the Dominican Republic in Hong Kong.

Tournament scoring leader Kiera Van Ryk led Canada's attack once again as the team closed the preliminary phase with a 3-1 victory (25-20, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18) on the final day of Week 3, bouncing back from Saturday's narrow loss to reigning champion Italy.

The Canadians, who finished fifth in the preliminary standings, advanced by placing in the top eight with eight wins against four losses for 24 points. They entered the match in sixth place, with just two points separating the teams fighting for the final three spots.

Canada advances to Volleyball Nations League Finals after win over Dominican Republic

Van Ryk, an opposite spiker, had a game-high 21 points (18 kills and three aces), while outside hitter Alexa Gray contributed 20 points (19 kills and one block).

The 27-year-old Van Ryk finished the preliminary round with 271 points.

Dominican Republic opposite spiker Gaila Ceneida Gonzalez Lopez led her team with 16 points (15 attack points and one block).

Canada led in attack points (63-47) and blocks (11-7) while committing fewer errors (14-29).

The Canadians went 2-2 in Week 1 on home soil in Quebec City before going 3-1 in both Bangkok and Hong Kong. The final phase, which runs from July 22 to 26 in Macau, China, will be played in a direct elimination formula.

FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League Hong Kong: Canada vs. Dominican Republic

"I am extremely proud of this team and how we improved from Quebec City until now," said head coach Giovanni Guidetti. "It was a long journey with ups and downs, but the team never stopped working and growing.

"I am thankful to train this great group of players. And being in the final of VNL is a great achievement for us — it was the first goal of the season. Now we will have a very strong quarterfinal, but we know that we can compete against anybody."

The Canadians pushed the second-ranked Italians to five sets on Saturday but ultimately fell 3-2 (22-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-23, 15-5).

Watch live coverage of women's and men's VNL matches on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. The full streaming schedule is available here.

With files from The Canadian Press