June 15, 2024.- On Saturday, young Dominican Republic’s opposite Alondra Tapia became one of just four players to score 37 points or more in a VNL match, but saw her team go down to Bulgaria in Hong Kong, while Canada swept France in Fukouka, Japan.
The 20-year-old Dominican had a stellar performance, leaving the court with 35 kills, one block and one ace to her name. The second-best scorer in her team was outside hitter Yonkaira Peña, who tallied 14 points.
Bulgaria defeated Dominican Republic 3-2 (2426, 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 15-13).
Dominican Republic concludes the 2024 VNL with a record of two wins and nine losses.
Canada swept France 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 31-29), with France pushing Canada into overtime points from a tie at 24 in the third set. After multiple match-point opportunities, Canada’s Kiera Van Ryk, who scored 26 points, ended the contest with the final kill at 31-29.
Canada dominated in attacks (53-33), and led in blocks (12-7), while France had more aces (6-3) and made fewer errors (13-16).
This was the second narrow margin for Olympic qualification by this gutsy squad – at last year’s Olympic Qualification Tournament, Canada’s women’s team narrowly missed earning a spot in Paris, coming a close third in their pool. This time around, Canada needed to edge ahead of Netherlands in the rankings to put the team in contention for a position to qualify for Paris 2024.
Canada has completed all of its 12 matches with seven wins and five losses.
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