Game 1 - Dominican Republic

A game day draw change had Canada´s opening pool play against the Dominican Republic, ranked 2nd only to Brazil. Several Olympic veterans who recently returned from London starred for the Dominican side, including the top ranked libero of London 2012. The first two sets went comfortably to the Dominicans. The Canadians showed their heart by pushing the Dominicans into playing top level volleyball, not properly represenetd by the scores of the first two sets. Continuing to build momentum in the third set, Canada hit hard, served tough, and dug deep for key up´s in the back court. Consistently big and solid, Canada´s block, along with some big kills and improved serving, kept a close third set very exciting. With a score of 25-20 for Dominicana, the third set truly could have gone either way. This Canadian team knew coming in that there would be adversity, knew the Dominican team would be strong, and unexpected variables (like a draw change) must almost be expected. A lot of team work and effort on behalf of Canada resulted in some great volleyball the team and country be proud of.