The USA women play the Dominican Republic in Rio de Janeiro at 1 p.m. Eastern Sunday to wrap up the first round of Volleyball Nations League.
The Americans, who opened with a four-set win over Thailand this past Wednesday, then lost in four to China on Thursday and in four to host Brazil on Friday before taking Saturday off.
Heading into Sunday, the USA stood in 11th place. Six teams have three victories, Poland, Brazil, China, Canada, Italy and Japan. The Dominican Republic and Netherlands are 2-1 and the Americans have the same record as Türkiye, Serbia, Germany and France.
After time off as the men’s side of VNL competes its first leg, the USA resums play in Arlington, Texas, May 28 for matches against Canada, Bulgaria, Poland and Türkiye.
Speaking of Canada, it beat Thailand on Saturday in Rio 25-21, 25-13, 20-25, 25-17 and kept its hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics alive. Kiera Van Ryk led Canada with 21 kills and a block. She’s leading VNL with 85 points.
Former Hawai’i standout Emily Maglio had 10 kills and four blocks and BYU product Alexa Gray had 1 kills, a block and an ace.
Canada opend VNL play with a four-set loss to Brazil, but then swept the Dominican Republic and beat China in four.
Also Saturday, in Antalya, Türkiye, Poland swept the Netherlands, France beat Bulgaria in four and Italy dealt the home team another tough loss, in four as Ekaterina Antropova had 17 kills, a block and five aces and Alice Degradi had 15 kills and a block. Melissa Vargas of Türkiye had 33 kills, seven digs and a block
In the other matches in Rio, China beat Serbia in four and the Dominican Republic swept Korea.
Sunday’s schedule in Antalya included Brazil against Serbia, Japan vs. Poland and France vs. Türkiye.
In Rio, after the USA-DR match, Thailand plays Korea.
The USA men play Poland on Wednesday in Antalya.
All matches can be seen on Volleyball World TV.
