Canadian women beat Dominican Republic 3-1 to lock up first appearance in VNL Finals

HONG KONG — The Canadian women’s team locked up their first berth in the Volleyball Nations League Finals with a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic on Sunday.

Set scores were 25-20, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18.

Kiera Van Ryk led Canada 21 points, while Alexa Gray added 20.

Van Ryk finished the preliminary round with a tournament-high 271 points.

Canada ended the round in fifth place with eight wins and 24 points and will finish either fifth or sixth, depending on the result of the final game between the Netherlands and Serbia.

Host China, which finished ninth, and the top seven teams from the preliminary round advance to the Finals, which begin with a quarterfinal round starting July 22 in Macau.

“I am extremely proud of this team and how we improved from Quebec City until now,” head coach Giovanni Guidetti said of Canada’s progress from Week 1 to Week 3 of VNL. “It was a long journey with ups and downs, but the team never stopped working and growing.

“I am thankful to train this great group of players. And being in the final of VNL is a great achievement for us — it was the first goal of the season. Now we will have a very strong quarterfinal, but we know that we can compete against anybody.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2026.

The Canadian Press