Volleyball Canada – The Canadian women’s team is set to start competing at FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, which continues in 2016 with 28 participating countries.
 
Canada has several new faces on its 2016 squad. “We have a really young and inexperienced team, with a lot of players who have never played at this international level,” said Canada’s head coach Arnd Ludwig (pictured, left).  “We want to get as much of a learning experience as possible from this tournament.”
 
The 24th edition of the world’s premier annual women’s volleyball tournament will be held from June 3 to July 12, 2016, with the Group 1 finals set to take place from July 6 to10 in Bangkok.
 
All previous winners of the World Grand Prix are competing again this year, including Brazil, USA, Russia and the Netherlands (newly promoted again from Group 2), plus Cuba (now in Group 3). Brazil tops the list with 10 gold medals, followed by USA with six – including the top prize contested in Omaha last year.
 
The 28 teams have been split across three groups with 12 competing in Group 1, eight in Group 2 and 3.  The Dominican Republic (ranked 7th) , Argentina (12th), Puerto Rico (16th), Canada (17th), Bulgaria (19th), the Czech Republic (28th) and Poland (25th), plus 2015 Group 3 winners Kenya (18th) form the eight-team Group 2.
 
The Group 2 and 3 Intercontinental rounds will be played in four-team pools over two weekends, followed by Final Four tournaments amongst the top three of the combined standings plus the hosts within each group.

The Final Four tournaments will be held from June 17 to 19 in Bulgaria for Group 2.
 
Historically, Canada was 11th in 2003, 19th in 2014 (7th in Group 2), 18th in 2015 (6th in Group).
 
More info: http://worldgrandprix.2016.fivb.com/en
 
Schedule (local time – ET time is 6hrs less)
@ Zielona Gora (Poland)
June 3 (8.10pm): Poland – Canada
June 4 (5.10pm): Puerto Rico – Canada
June 5 (5.10pm): Czech Republic – Canada
@ Olomouc (Czech Republic)
June 10 (6.10pm): Czech Republic – Canada
June 11 (3.10pm): Dominican Republic – Canada
June 12 (3.10pm): Canada – Bulgaria

Note: all matches available on FIVB’s You Tube channel. 
 
Canada’s Roster:
Setters:
Megan Cyr (Winnipeg, MB)
Danielle Smith (Beaverlodge, AB)
 
Leftsides:
Marie-Alex Bélanger (St-Alphonse-Rodriguez, QC)
Danielle Brisebois (Caledon, ON)
Marie-Sophie Nadeau (St-Aimé, QC)
Michaela Reesor (Caledon, ON)
 
Middles:
Lucille Charuk (Tsawwassen, BC)
Jennifer Cross (Scarborough, ON)
Marisa Field (Kelowna, BC)
Alicia Perrin (Creston, BC)
 
Opposites:
Shainah Joseph (Ottawa, ON)
Elizabeth Wendel (Caronport, SK)
 
Liberos:
Kristen Moncks (Standard, AB)
Jessica Niles (Turner Valley, AB)
 
Staff:
Team Manager – Gina Schmidt
Head Coach – Arnd Ludwig
Assistant Coach – Ryan Ratushniak
Therapist – Byron Bahniuk
Statistician – Shane Smith
 

Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender
E-mail: jskender@volleyball.ca
Phone: 613.794.7676