Canada reserved the first spot at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic volleyball tournament besides the host nation USA. Coach Giovanni Guidetti’s squad won the NORCECA Women's Volleyball Continental Olympic Qualifier in Santo Domingo and booked a coveted ticket to the Olympic Games in two years.
The Canadian women’s national team will play at the Olympics for the first time since the Atlanta 1996 Games. They made their Olympic debut at home, at Montreal 1976, and also played at Los Angeles 1984. So, their fourth Olympic appearance will once again be on the North American continent.
On Saturday evening, Canada won the final of the Olympic qualifier to grab the NORCECA berth at LA 2028. In front of 2,300 fans in the stands, they put together a 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-23, 25-14) victory over hosts Dominican Republic, with outside hitter Alexa Gray and opposite Kiera Van Ryk chipping in with a match-high 22 points each.
"I don’t think I can put it into words how this feels," said Alexa Gray. "I started on the National Team in 2017, and this has been my life-long dream. We’ve just come so far since that time. We were so, so close last quad and we were heart-broken. I’m just so proud of how we came out today; it was a tough environment, but this team means everything to me and I’m just so happy to represent Canada. So overjoyed!”
