Thursday, June 22, 2000Canadian volleyball
team loses to Argentina
TOKYO (CP) -- The Canadian women's volleyball team won its
first set at the Olympic qualifying tournament today but it wasn't enough to pull out a
victory over Argentina.
Canada lost 3-2 (25-20, 28-30, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13) after two missed serves near the end
of the final set cost them what would have been their first match win of the tournament.
They are 0-5 with two matches remaining and out of contention for a Games berth. The
competition was the last chance for Canada to qualify for the Olympics in Sydney.
Eight countries are at the tournament, fighting for the final four remaining spots at the
Games.
The Canadians, ranked 14th in the world, are the lowest-seeded team followed by Argentina
at No. 13.
"It was our match to win," said Canadian national team head coach Doug Reimer of
Winnipeg. "We made mistakes at the wrong time. But we played much better in the
middle portion of the sets which is when we usually start struggling after a good
start."
Janis Kelly of Winnipeg, one of only two players from the 1996 Olympic team, Rae Anne
Mitchell of Prince George, B.C., and Jenny Rauh of Vancouver each scored 17 points.
Italy has a stranglehold on its first ever Olympic berth in women's volleyball after
defeating Japan 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-13) to move to a perfect 5-0. South Korea is also in
strong position after beating the Netherlands 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20). China held
on to its hopes for a ticket to Sydney defeating Croatia 3-2 (23-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-19,
15-10).
Italy leads the tournament at 5-0, South Korea is second at 4-1, then Japan, Croatia and
China all follow at 3-2. The Netherlands and Argentina are 1-4 and Canada is 0-5.
Canada closes the tournament Saturday and Sunday against Italy and the Netherlands
respectively.
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