The Netherlands shut out Canada in this week’s most anticipated Volleyball Nations League match in Fukuoka and opened up a gap of 22.47 FIVB World Ranking points from their opponents just two days before the race for the last Olympic tickets to the women’s volleyball tournament at Paris 2024 officially closes on Sunday.
VNL 2024
Netherlands shut out Canada in week’s big VNL match
The Dutch well ahead of the North Americans in race for Paris 2024
Published 09:34, 14 Jun 2024
- Watch Volleyball Nations League 2024 live on VBTV
On Friday, the Netherlands mastered a 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-23) sweep of their head-to-head encounter with Canada and that result moved as many as 9.84 points from the North Americans’ to the Europeans’ basket, practically pre-deciding the race for an Olympic berth between the two teams in favour of the Dutch.
21-year-old outside hitter Jolien Knollema led the Netherlands with 14 points, including a kill block. Her cross-court teammate Marrit Jasper added another 12 points, including a block and an ace, while middle blocker Juliet Lohuis impressed with four kill blocks for the winning side. The top scorer honours of the match were shared by Canada’s outside hitter and captain Alexa Gray and opposite Kiera Van Ryk with 17 points each.
Just before the match, the World Ranking race between the Netherlands and Canada was wide open, following their results in Thursday’s Fukuoka matches. The Dutch were shut out by the United States and the 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-22) defeat also cost them 7.29 World Ranking points. Three American players led the scorers in that match – middle blocker Dana Rettke, outside hitter Kelsey Robinson-Cook and opposite Andrea Drews produced 13 points each towards the win.
In Thursday’s late match in Fukuoka, Canada came back from two sets down to deliver a narrow 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 16-14) upset of hosts Japan, which brought them 7.60 points for the World Ranking. Alexa Gray had a fantastic showing with a 30-point match high, which included three blocks and an ace. Kiera Van Ryk was not far behind, with 27 points, also including three blocks. Outside hitter and captain Sarina Koga led Japan with 20 points, while opposite Kotona Hayashi and substitute outside Arisa Inoue finished with 13 points apiece.
So, on the eve of the direct clash between the Netherlands and Canada on Friday, the gap between the two teams in the World Ranking was just 2.79 points in favour of the Dutch.
As far as qualifying for next week’s VNL Finals in Thailand, both the Netherlands and Canada are just below the cut-off line in the current standings, in eighth and ninth place, respectively, on a 6-3 win-loss record each.
Olympic hosts and VNL rookies France lose to Korea, but upset Serbia in Fukuoka
In another Fukuoka game on Thursday, Korea celebrated a 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-13) win over France, led by outside hitters Jiyun Jeong and Sohwi Kang, and middle blockers Hoyoung Jung and Dahyeon Lee with 20, 18, 12 and 10 points, respectively. French opposite Lucille Gicquel put away the match high of 23 points, supported by middle Amandha Sylves and outsides Halimatou Bah and captain Helena Cazaute with 16 points each, and middle Christina Bauer with 12.
The VNL rookies and hosts of the upcoming Olympic Games bounced back on Friday with a 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21) upset of reigning world champions Serbia, who played without their most distinguished stars. This time Helena Cazaute was France’s leading scorer with 18 points, including four blocks and three aces, followed by Iman Ndiay with 14 points and Amelie Rotar with 13. Serbian opposite Vanja Bukilic topped the charts of the match with 26 points. Another two of her teammates reached the double digits – Vanja Ivanovic with 17 and Natasa Cikuc with 11 points.
