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sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ routed 3-0 by Italy in women's Volleyball Nations League action

FUKUOKA — The Canadian women's volleyball team's push for Olympic qualification hit a snag Tuesday with a lopsided 3-0 loss to Italy in Volleyball Nations League action.
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sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½'s Kiera Van Ryk spikes the ball during a Volleyball Women's Nations League match against Brazil, at the Maracanazinho stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

FUKUOKA — The Canadian women's volleyball team's push for Olympic qualification hit a snag Tuesday with a lopsided 3-0 loss to Italy in Volleyball Nations League action.

The Italians, ranked fourth in the world, posted set scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-14 in the dominant win.

Italy's Paola Egonu led all scorers with 18 points.

Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, had 13 points for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, which fell to 5-4 in VNL play.

"Italy is an exceptional team, I’d say one of the strongest teams we have faced so far this year," said sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ head coach Shannon Winzer. "We didn’t play to our full potential for sure, and that is disappointing.

"No one wants to lose like that, but (the) margin of error becomes even smaller against a team like that."

Italy led 37-30 in attack points, 11-1 in blocks and 7-2 in points from serves. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ lost eight more points to errors than Italy (20-12).

“We struggled on first contact, we struggled on attack … It just wasn’t a good game at our end," Winzer said. "The best thing we can do is take what we can from it and move on as quickly as possible. What we do next is the most important thing."

The 10th-ranked Canadian women are still vying for a place at this summer's Olympics in Paris.

Seven women’s teams have already qualified. The remaining spots will go to the top five unqualified teams in the FIVB rankings at the end of the VNL preliminary phase.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ next faces host Japan on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2024.

The Canadian Press