Zhang Changning and Kiera Van Ryk engaged in a fiery duel as debutantes Canada pulled off an electrifying five-set victory over formidable China for their historic VNL win in the 2021 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League in Rimini, Italy on Tuesday.
Canada yet won a match in Rimini, but they performed superbly on Tuesday as they survived a scare from reigning Olympic champions China, fielding the second-string squad in the early stage of the top-tier competition, to win the thrilling battle 25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 15-25, 15-12.
Kiera Van Ryk became the star spiker of Canada as she chipped in with 25 points including 18 attacks for the team. Zhang Changning, who also joined the Rio Olympic Games-gold winning team in 2016, led China with 22 points including 18 attacks and 2 blocks.
China’s Liu Yanhan said at the virtual mixed zone: “I think that actually Canada’s reactions were really fast, their defence was very good and they put a lot of pressure, so it was a really tough game. Tomorrow we have another match and we hope to perform well.”
Andrea Mitrovic of Canada said: “It’s surreal. I can’t believe it. Our team was fighting all the way through like coming down, yesterday we lost a five-setter, but today we knew how to come back and fight as a team. I think that our serving and passing were a key to this victory.”
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