ARLINGTON, Texas — Canada took another step toward qualifying for its first Olympic Games since 1996 by defeating Germany in the Volleyball Nations League on Thursday.
Earlier at UT Arlington, Poland swept South Korea, then Turkey beat Serbia in four sets.
In Macau, China, Japan swept past France and Brazil defeated the Netherlands, winning all four games.
Ultimately, Poland and Brazil came out on top of the women's standings with 6-0 scores, while Italy was one game behind at 5-1.
The U.S. women's team returned to action after a two-day rest period.
The USA (3-2) will play last-placed Bulgaria (1-4) at 8 p.m. CST. Poland will play Germany (1-5) at 1 p.m., then Canada (4-2) will face Serbia (1-5). The USA women's team returned from Rio de Janeiro with a 2-2 record after beating Thailand and losing in four sets to China and Brazil in the first round, then sweeping the Dominican Republic. In Tuesday's second round, the USA opened with a four-set win over Canada, led by Katherine Plummer with 14 kills, Jordan Thompson with 13 kills and Jordan Larson with 12 kills.
Friday's matches in Macau have already concluded, with the Netherlands (3-4) beating the Dominican Republic (2-5) in four sets and Japan (5-2) beating China (4-2) in four sets. Nova Marling had 18 kills, one block and two aces for the Netherlands, while Sarina Nashida and Arisa Inoue had 25 kills and 18 kills for Japan.
A very talented Canadian team outshot Germany, 25-20, 25-15, 25-22. Calgary's Alexa Gray, playing for BYU, hit .566 with 17 kills, no errors and two aces on 30 attempts. She also recorded a team-high 11 digs.
Kiera Van Ryk had 10 kills, three aces, five blocks, two solo and nine digs. Andrea Mitrovic, who plays for Arizona State, had eight kills, one solo block and eight digs. Jazmine Ruth White, who plays for Michigan State, had five kills, two solo and five blocks on 11 errorless swings. Setter Bree O'Reilly had three kills, one block and Her team's batting average was .430.
Canada is ranked sixth out of 16 teams. After the Serbia match, the team will have Saturday off before playing in the second round against South Korea.
“We did well today,” Canada coach Shannon Windsor said. “Our game plan was to break down the German central attack, which starts with service pressure and ends with executing our blocking duties.”
“The team stuck to the game plan and everyone did their job today.”
Germany's Lena Stiglott scored 11 points.
Monika Feducio had 16 kills, one error, one ace and six block assists on 37 attempts as Poland outplayed South Korea 25-20, 25-20, 25-10. Malwina Smarzek had 12 kills, one ace and one solo block.
