Kathryn Plummer had 14 kills, Jordan Thompson had 13 and Jordan Larson 12 as the USA women beat Canada 25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 25-20 Tuesday to open the second round of Volleyball Nations League play.
The outcome in UT Arlington’s College Park Center left both teams 3-2. The Americans now have two days off before playing Bulgaria on Friday. Canada, still trying to claim a spot in the Paris Olympics, has Wednesday off before playing Germany on Thursday.
There were three other matches Tuesday. In Macao, China, Thailand beat the Dominican Republic in four sets and then Brazil stayed unbeaten when it got past Japan in five.
In the first match at UTA on Tuesday, Poland beat Serbia in four.
Italy swept France to open Wednesday’s action in Macao before the Netherlands was scheduled to play China.
There are three matches in Arlington with Korea playing Bulgaria at 11 a.m. Central, followed by Germany vs. Türkiye at 2:30 p.m.
Plummer, making her VNL debut after a strong season in Italy with Imoco Conegliano, got her 14 kills on 40 attacks. She had seven errors to hit . 175 and added two solo blocks and 13 digs.
Thompson, who did not make the trip to Rio de Janeiro for the first round, also took 40 swings and hit .225. She had seven digs, an ace and five blocks, one solo. Larson, who played the first round, hit .366, had an ace, two solo blocks and a match-high 18 digs.
“I think we are trying to find a balance between a sense of urgency and a presence of calm,” Larson told USA Volleyball. “Also, we’re kind of a new crew here. So I think we’re adapting and adjusting to each other.”
The middles, who also missed the first round, Asjia O’Neal and Dana Rettke, had six kills each. O’Neal had one error in 12 attacks and five blocks, two solo. Rettke had one error in 14 attacks and six blocks, three solo.
Setter Jordyn Poulter had a kill, an ace and six digs. The USA hit .275. Libero Justine Wong-Orantes had 12 digs.
Canada had more kills (59) than the Americans (52) and hit .221. Alexa Gray and Kiera Van Ryk continued their strong VNL play. Gray, who played at BYU, led with 20 kills, two aces, five digs and a solo block. Van Ryk had 17 kills but 13 errors, 18 digs an ace and two solo blocks. Emily Maglio, who played at Hawai’i, had eight kills, three solo blocks and five digs. Andrea Mitrovic, who played at Arizona State, had six kills and four digs.
Stats of note from other matches Tuesday: Thailand had four players with 12 or more kills in its victory over Dominican Republic, 15 by Srithong Wipawee, while Yonkaira Pena had 17 for the DR; Magdalena Stysiak led Poland with 21 kills, hitting .463, to go with two solo blocks and nine digs; and Gabi Braga Guimaraes had 21 kills and hit .370 to lead Brazil in its 24-26, 26-24, 19-25, 25-20, 15-11 win over Japan. She had three aces and 13 digs.
