Day 1 Summary – ParaVolley PanAmerica Zonal Championship

May 09, 2023: The ParaVolley PanAmerica Zonal Championship (May 9 to 13) kicked off Tuesday in Edmonton at the Saville Community Sports Centre.

The Canadian men’s sitting volleyball team won its opener, while the women lost a five-set battle with the United States.

Four men’s teams are competing for one Paralympic berth; while Canada and the U.S. are battling it out on the women’s side for a place in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. 

Results (May 9) :
Men – BRA v. USA 3-1  (25-20, 22-25, 25-19, 25-23)
Men – CAN v. ARG  3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-11)
Women – CAN v. USA  2-3 (25-21, 25-18, 16-25, 17-25,12-15)

Link to photos for editorial use (credit Jody Bailey)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pvpa-wpv/

Quotes:
Nicole Ban, head coach of Canada’s women’s team, “This means a lot to us. This is the first match of five and we played kind of like it was a final. I don’t think maintaining the energy or intensity will be an issue, I think it’s about finding away to stay to calm at times…. It is hard when you are up 2-0 then you lose, but I am proud of the way we battled back in the fifth set. That’s where we have to draw some strength and energy from and get back to implementing our game plan.”

Jeff Smith, head coach of Canada’s men’s team: “Argentina played a really scrappy game… We didn’t have a lot of footage on them, so for us it was just sticking to our game plan and to get that first win is important. Now we’ll just go back to the drawing board and focus on the U.S. “

Doug Learoyd, captain of Team Canada: “It’s always good to start with a win. We haven’t competed in a bit, so we started with the W and we look to carry that forward. Argentina doesn’t have a ton of international experience, so at times it was really scrappy and less traditional system play than what you normally see. So the focus is more on our side and we did a decent job today.”

May 10 Schedule:
14:00  M – BRA v. ARG
16:30  W – CAN v. USA
19:00  M – CAN vs. USA

Matches are streamed at www.cbcsports.ca and on Volleyball Canada’s YouTube channel. Tickets are available at the door!

Canada men’s roster
#2 Mikael Bartholdy — Calgary, AB
#3 Austin Hinchey — Edmonton, AB
#5 Nasif Chowdhury — Toronto, ON
#6 Bryce Foster — Thunder Bay, ON
#7 Douglas Learoyd (C) — Calgary, AB
#9 Andrew Tucker — Brampton, ON
#10 Christopher Bird — Brandon, MB
#11 José Rebelo — Saint-Hubert, Que.
#12 Nicholas Aldrich — Toronto, ON
#14 Connor Compton — Calgary, ON
#19 Jason Beaman — Vancouver, BC
#20 Jesse Buckingham — Toronto, ON

Canada women’s roster
#2 Julie Kozun — Melfort, SK
#3 Danielle Ellis (C) — White Rock, BC
#4 Jennifer Oakes — Calgary, AB
#5 Payden Vair — Cardston, AB
#6 Angelena Dolezar — St. Albert, AB
#7 Anne Fergusson — Carleton Place, ON
#9 Sarah Melenka — Vegreville, AB
#10 Jayme Lepp — Vancouver, BC
#11 Heidi Peters — Neerlandia, AB
#14 Katelyn Wright — Edmonton, AB
#15 Felicia Voss-Shafiq — Burnaby, BC
#16 Jennifer McCreesh — Smithers, BC
#17 Allison Lang — Edmonton, AB

More information on ParaVolley Pan America can be found here: https://paravolleypanam.com

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676