With 70 points from Kiera Van Ryk, Alexa Gray and Emily Maglio combined, Canada handed hosts China their first loss in Pool A of the FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers, pulling off a five-set upset and leaving the remaining race for the two Olympic tickets from Ningbo wide open and exciting. Li Yingying’s 30 points for China were not enough to stop the Canadians, while Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic also produced 30 points on Wednesday, but towards a four-set victory over Czechia.
Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Van Ryk, Gray and Maglio on fire as Canada upset China in Ningbo
Li Yingying and Tijana Boskovic hammer 30 points apiece on Wednesday
Published 03:36, 20 Sept 2023
Canada’s Vyn Ryk spikes above the Chinese block
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The last match on the day’s programme offered a thrilling five-set rollercoaster in which the world’s number 11 team Canada squeezed out a narrow 3-2 (28-26, 15-25, 25-23, 22-25, 17-15) victory over number six China.
While the home team clearly dominated the second set, the other four were very competitive. Canada won three of the sets by the narrowest of margins, two of them, including the tie-breaker, in the overtime. Three of their players reached the 20+ mark in scoring with opposite Kiera Van Ryk leading the way with 26 points, all in spikes. Outside hitter and captain Alexa Gray added another 24, including one block, while middle blocker Emily Maglio piled up an impressive nine kill blocks, including the match winner in the tie-breaker, towards a 20-point tally.
Still, China finished with a total of 19 blocks against 11 for Canada. They also outplayed the winners in serving (10-3 in aces) and in accuracy (17-19 in unforced errors), but what gave the Canadians the advantage was the spiking (76-66 in attack kills). 23-year-old Chinese star Li Yingying was on fire with 30 points, including three blocks and two aces
After sitting out Serbia’s first game in Pool A on Saturday, scoring 22 points against Ukraine on Sunday and another 25 against Canada on Tuesday, 26-year-old star Tijana Boskovic kept up the upward trend on Wednesday, firing as many as 30 points against Czechia. The reigning world champions lost their first set of the tournament in China, but added another three points to their record as they mastered their fourth consecutive victory, 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 30-32, 25-20) against Czechia.
In each of the sets one, two and four, Czechia started better, immediately taking a two or three-point lead, but Serbia were able to recover, turn the score around and win. Set three, the most interesting of the game, was the only one, in which Serbia took the early lead. The Czechs caught up and prompted a hard-fought race, in which the lead changed hands several times, to push it deep into overtime. The Czechs saved three Serbian match points, but wasted four set points of their own, before opposite Gabriela Orvosova could convert the fifth one with a swing for 32-30.
Tijana Boskovic led Serbia to victory with 25 spiking points at a 52% success rate in attack, four kill blocks and an ace. Middle blocker Maja Aleksic added another 16 points, also with four stuffs, in addition to 12 successful hits, including the match winner. Gabriela Orvosova led the Czech scorers with 15 points, including three blocks.
Serbia remained the only undefeated team in Ningbo and lead the current pool standings on 4-0 and 12 points, followed by China and the Netherlands on 3-1 and 10 points each, Dominican Republic on 3-1 and 9, Canada on 2-2 and 5, and Czechia on 1-3 and 2. Ukraine and Mexico, who are bottom of the table without a set won in four matches each, no longer have a mathematical shot at one of the two tickets from Ningbo to Paris 2024.
In an all-European clash on Wednesday, the Netherlands downed Ukraine in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-16). Outside hitter Marrit Jasper and opposite Celeste Plak shared the top scorer honours of the match with 13 points apiece, while Oleksandra Milenko was Ukraine’s most productive player with 12 points.
In an all-NORCECA encounter, Dominican Republic mastered a 3-0 (25-17, 27-25, 25-16) shutout of Mexico, with opposite Gaila Gonzalez producing a match-high 14 points, sharing the top of the scorers’ chart with Mexico’s Grecia Castro Lopez, whose 14-point tally included three aces and three blocks.
