Big win keeps Germany in the race for last VNL quarterfinal spot

Germany have managed to keep the competition for the eighth and final spot in the Women’s Volleyball Nations League 2022 Finals open until the very last day of the Preliminary Phase as they defeated Canada in Calgary on Saturday and maintained their hopes of making the trip to Ankara, Türkiye, very much alive.

The Europeans showed nerves of steel to handle the pressure of the loud Canadian fans and were better in the key moments of the third and fourth sets to secure a crucial 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 27-25, 25-23) victory that kept them alive in the VNL.

· Watch all VNL 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

The victory moved Germany two spots up in the standings, climbing from 12th to 10th place with four wins (14 points), and overtaking Canada, who have the same four victories, but just 12 points. Poland also have four triumphs and 11 points. Both are now out of contention for a spot in the Finals.

The Germans will enter the last day of the Preliminary Phase targeting the eighth place, which currently belongs to Thailand, who have five wins and 15 points. In order to qualify, the Europeans will need to win their 14.00 local time (20.00 GMT) match against reigning Olympic champions the United States and count on a victory of Italy over Thailand earlier in Sofia, Bulgaria, at 16.30 local time (13.30 GMT).

“It’s always great to win and we got two in a row, so that feels even better,” outside hitter Hanna Orthmann said after the match. “It was hard to beat Belgium and also very difficult to play Canada at home. We’re very proud that we remained steady until the end and were able to win 3-1 even after they came back. Everyone knows how good the United States are, but I never say never. There’s always a chance, so we’ll get some rest, prepare and hopefully we can bring our best game tomorrow as well.”

Germany's top scorer in the VNL, the 23-year-old Orthmann led her team’s offence with 21 points. She had 18 kills and a match-high three aces.

Most importantly, Orthmann came up big in the most important play of the match, receiving the Canadian serve and hitting powerfully to overcome the block and score the game-winning point in a moment of tremendous pressure.

Opposite Ivana Vanjak, with 15 points (13 kills, one ace, one block), and middle blocker Camilla Weitzel, with 12 (ten kills, two blocks), also reached double digits in scoring.

Canada had the two top scorers of the encounter with outside hitter Alexa Gray producing 26 points (all in kills) and opposite Kiera Van Ryk adding another 22 with 18 kills, three aces and one block.

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Schedule and results

The North Americans, however, struggled with a high volume of errors, generating 32 points for the Germans, who made just 14 mistakes over the course of the four sets of play.

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