FUKUOKA — The Canadian women's volleyball team had their Olympic dreams all but ended Friday with a 3-0 loss to the Netherlands in Volleyball Nations League action.
Set scores were 26-24, 25-16 and 25-23 as the Dutch opened up a 22.47-point gap over Canada in world rankings points with just one game remaining in the Paris Olympics qualification window for each team.
Calgary's Alexa Gray and Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey, B.C., each had a match-high 17 points, but Canada committed 24 errors to seven for the Netherlands.
Jolien Knollema led the Netherlands with 14 points.
Canada, which has not qualified for the Olympics since 1996, next plays 19th-ranked France on Saturday, while the Netherlands takes on No. 34 South Korea on Sunday. Canada would need to take maximum rankings points from the French and hope the Koreans post a 3-0 victory over the Dutch to have any chance of moving on.
The final qualifiers for the Paris Games will be determined by world ranking position after Sunday's VNL games. The Netherlands and Canada are vying for the final spot.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2024.
The Canadian Press
