Team Canada has won its first game of the 2025 Women’s Volleyball Nations League at Toronto Dominion Place in Ottawa, Ontario. Canada defeated Bulgaria 25-18, 25-12, 23-25, 19-25, 15-4. It was a bizarre game for the Canadians. They dominated the first two sets, let Bulgaria to control the middle part of the context, and then put the beatdown on Bulgaria in the final set. The second and fifth sets were as dominant as we have seen from the Canadian women’s volleyball program for quite some time. Even though Canada won, due to the fact they won in five sets, they only collected two points.
What we saw from this Canadian group was exceptional offense once again from opposite spiker Kiera Van Ryk of New Westminster, British Columbia. Van Ryk led the Canadian attack with 25 points. She had 19 attack points, four aces and two points via the block. There were four other Canadian players who reached double digits in points. Outside hitter Hilary Johnson of Calgary, Alberta had 18 points (16 attack points and two aces), middle blocker Emily Maglio of Cranbrook, British Columbia had 14 points (eight attack points, five block points and one ace), middle blocker Nyadholi Thokbuom of Calgary has 12 points (11 attack points and one ace), and outside hitter Andrea Mitrovic of Mississauga, Ontario had 10 points (10 attack points).
Team Canada has three more games this weekend. They play the Netherlands on Thursday, Japan on Saturday and Serbia on Sunday.
