Taipei City, Chinese Taipei (Team Canada) – Ukraine’s women’s volleyball team was too much for the Canadians to handle as they dropped their second game of the Summer Universiade 3-1 (19-25, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25).
UBC Thunderbird Danielle Brisebois led the team with 11 kills and a game-high 14 digs. Middle Kelsey Veltman from the Western Mustangs added six kills for Canada. Setter and Trinity Western Spartan Nikki Cornwall recorded a game-high 27 assists.
For Ukraine, two players reached double digits in kills, but it was Anastasiia Chernukha who was unstoppable, recording a game-high 20 in the match.
“I think we came out on our toes and we were a little bit nervous,” said Veltman. “We knew they were a great team from watching film, but after we started the match, we got a little more comfortable and started learning their tendencies and found ways to fight back”
A great first set of action had both teams trading points early on with long rallies and scrappy defence, but it was Ukraine that pulled away nearing the end of the set to take the lead by a score of 25-19. A slow Canadian start in the second had them in a hole at the technical timeout from their own errors, and solid blocking from the opponent made it difficult to get chances offensively.
Down 2-0, the red and white were led by Veltman and Brisebois in the third who picked up the pace and helped Canada force a fourth set. In the fourth, Canada found themselves down by seven at one point, but made a late push to fight back. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, as Ukraine was able to close out the match with a 25-20 fourth set win.
“This team is starting to believe in their abilities and trust what they can do. When we ask them to step up in situations like today, they’re starting to see what they can accomplish and I think that will carry into tomorrow.”
The women’s volleyball team will take on Argentina in their third game of pool play on Aug. 23 at 1:00 p.m. (1:00 a.m. Eastern).