Team Canada has won the Norceca Women’s Volleyball Championship for the first time. On Wednesday, Canada defeated the United States 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 15-10 at the Pabellon Ricardo Gioriver Arias in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Canada went undefeated during the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation tournament. First, they went undefeated in Pool A play after defeating Mexico 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 on August 21, Trinidad and Tobago 25-10, 25-6, 25-5 on August 22, and the United States 22-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 15-13 on August 23. Kiera Van Ryk of New Westminster, British Columbia was Canada’s leading scorer against Mexico and the United States as she had 15 points and 21 points respectively. Hilary Johnson of Calgary, Alberta was Canada’s leading scorer against Trinidad and Tobago as she had 16 points.
Then in the semifinals on Tuesday, Van Ryk scored 14 points as Canada beat Cuba 25-19, 25-13, 25-17. In the Norceca Championship game, Canada’s leading scorer was Anna Smrek of Welland, Ontario with 20 points. In a very interesting story, it was the Canadian libero Tracy Jost of St. Albert, Alberta, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
Canada will be staying in the Dominican Republic. That is because they finished among the top four teams (excluding the United States) in the Norceca Women’s Volleyball Championship. On Friday and Saturday, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will play a mini-tournament to decide a spot in women’s volleyball at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. On Friday, Canada plays Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic plays Cuba. On Saturday, the winners of the two games on Friday will play with an Olympic berth on the line.
