Women’s sitting volleyball fall to China in semifinal match

PARIS – The Canadian Paralympic Team’s chances at a medal will resort to a third-place matchup, as the sitting volleyball squad came up short against China in the semifinals Thursday, dropping the contest in straight sets 25-16, 25-22, 25-18. 

Despite having the edge in service aces with eight, and tying the Chinese in blocks with eight apiece, Canada could not slow down a relentless attack from their opponents. China dominated on the offence, earning 39 points on attack to Canada’s 29. 

Head coach Nicole Ban acknowledged the tough loss incurred but praised her team’s mindset on taking the game one play at a time.

“Obviously the outcome of 3-0 is not what we wanted,” said Ban following the game. “But I think especially the second two sets, and even from the beginning we battled. We knew it was going to be a really difficult game, and I just talked to the athletes about focusing on one point at a time and I thought they did that every single point.

“We battled, we did what we could, it wasn’t enough but I’m super proud of them.”

Sarah Melenka of Vegreville, Alberta led the Canadians with 12 points, including a game-high four blocks. Danielle Ellis and Heidi Peters both contributed 11 points, with the team captain adding back-to-back aces in the second set to keep Canada within contention. Peters was also dominant from the serving line, as the three-time Paralympian powered four aces past the Chinese front court. 

In the first set, China came out with energy, getting out to an 8-3, followed by a 17-9 lead early, forcing Ban to call timeouts in both instances to regroup and slow the momentum down. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t move the needle enough, as China would add another eight points to Canada’s nine to close the set.

Two-time Paralympian Julie Kozun touched on the nuances that affected the team game throughout the match. 

“I think we were scratching the surface of our best volleyball, but we weren’t quite playing our best volleyball,” said Kozun after the loss. “We weren’t able to serve receive as well today which didn’t enable us to play our best systems. We can run a faster ball than we played today.” 

While Canada was unable to gain a lead in any of the three sets across the contest, they applied steady pressure in the remaining two games. Canada kept the second set tight early on, with strong block play from Melenka and lethal serving from Peters holding the game at 9-9.

After China went on a 4-0 run to open up the scoring, Canada kept their deficit to within five for the remainder of the set, mounting a late comeback rally with a handful of attacking points before ultimately dropping the second game. 

The third set was a flurry of back-and forth action, leading to a 15-15 tie. China would eventually open up a furious attack, going on a 10-3 run to close out the game.

Kozun had high-praise for her opponent, and offered some hope looking ahead to the team’s next contest.

“China’s a tough competitor, it’s nice to play high-level volleyball with a high-level team, but I think we had more in the tank and we just weren’t able to execute on it today.”

Canada will take on the Brazilians in the bronze medal game on Saturday, hoping for redemption after dropping their second preliminary matchup against their opponents three sets to one.