Gray leading young Canada from a new role

Canada’s debut at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League was one of the main storylines heading into the 2021 edition of the tournament and fans from around the world were excited to see what the North Americans would bring to the event.

The team showed some promising skills in their first three matches in Rimini, Italy, but one aspect of the Canadian game caught most who were watching by surprise.

One of the team’s main attacking options, outside hitter Alexa Gray was used as a libero by head coach Shannon Winzer in the matches against the United States and the Dominican Republic.

“I’m nursing a minor injury and I can’t spike right now, so I’m trying to get some more reps with the team and help in the way I can,” the 26-year-old Gray said after the match against the Dominicans. “We have two very young liberos in our roster and I think that by doing this I also help take some of the pressure off them as well. But I really hope I can play as an outside hitter in our next block of matches, I really miss spiking.”

Gray’s positional change could indeed provide an offensive boost for the Canadians, who have had great production from opposite Kiera Van Ryk with 51 points in three matches, but could certainly use a second option at the net.

The North Americans were able to take sets from Brazil and the Dominican Republic in their first matches and hope to show more progress when they face Turkey, China and Germany from May 31-June 2.

“Our goal in the VNL is to get better,” said Gray. “We have a new team coming into this season, we have seven new players so it’s really about improving as a team. We hope we can win some matches and I think we’ll have a better chance to do that near the end of the Preliminary Round, but we’ll keep fighting every time we’re on the court.”