Canada women narrowly fall to reigning champion Italy, near spot in VNL finals

HONG KONG — Canada’s women’s volleyball team pushed reigning champion Italy to five sets but ultimately fell 3-2 (22-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-23, 15-5) on Saturday in Volleyball Nations League play.

Canada holds a top-eight spot in the standings and looks to advance to the VNL finals for the first time in the women’s team history. The final phase will be played in a direct elimination formula.

Kiera Van Ryk led Canada’s attack with 26 kills and an ace. Middle blocker Nyadholi Thokbuom contributed 17 points (12 kills, three blocks and two aces).

“Tonight we are sad because we know we could have won against Italy,” said Canada’s coach Giovanni Guidetti. “This is a great step forward for our team. We played point-to-point in four incredible sets against the best team in the world and we were very close to winning the match.