IRVINE — Great crowds, terrific action and close competition, but the USA women’s volleyball team still came out of this weekend feeling empty.
The U.S. lost its second straight four-set match to Team Canada on Sunday night at the Bren Events Center, marking three straight losses to its neighbor to the north
The Canadians also swept the U.Ss. in three sets on June 4 in a FIVB Volleyball Nations League preliminary-round match in Quebec City, Canada.
Both teams used their entire rosters during Sunday’s match, putting their top players on the court at the start and subbing in the reserves over the final two sets.
“Results matter,” U.S. head coach Erik Sullivan said. “We obviously want to come out and win matches. I think we’re all competitive in our locker room, but it’s mostly about how we’re playing volleyball and what we’re doing systematically and how we’re competing. Those are the takeaways.”
The U.S. has medaled in women’s volleyball in each of the past five Olympics and is slowly gearing up for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The Canadians haven’t competed in the Summer Games since 1996 and still haven’t officially qualified for LA28.
U.S. setter Jordyn Poulter said that disparity may have also factored in her team’s performance this weekend.
“Fortunately and unfortunately for us, there’s no pressure getting the Olympic bid,” Poulter said. “At the same time, having that pressure forces you to live and die with every point, and I think we’re going to do our best to treat (our next) tournament like we don’t have (a bid). Canada hasn’t qualified for the Olympics, and they missed out on Paris (2024) by one match, so they’re hungry for something.”
The U.S. won the first set on Saturday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego before the Canadians stormed back to win the next three. Sullivan took his starters out for the fourth set and Canada clinched the match with a 21-17 win.
Sullivan sent his top unit back on the floor to start Sunday’s match and the group pulled out a 32-30 win. They stayed on the court for the second set, but Canada was able to pull out a 25-20 win after erasing an early two-point deficit.
“We played a little better than we did last night,” Sullivan said. “We still need to execute at a higher level. I thought, systematically, we were a little more consistent.”
Sullivan put his subs on the floor for the third set and they managed to erase a 19-15 deficit. The score was tied, 22-22, when a kill by Canada was ruled to have landed out of bounds, but Canada requested a video review and it was determined the ball glanced off the U.S. block, switching the point to Canada and it went on to win 25-22.
“There’s a problem if you don’t want to be playing all the time, right, and I think everyone on this team wants to be on the court,” Poulter said. “Unfortunately, you can’t play all 14, 15, 16 people at a time.”
Canada then subbed out its best players for the fourth set, while the U.S. kept its subs on the floor, and the Canadians clinched the match with a 27-25 win.
“We all were not our best,” Poulter said. “We have some really amazing players, and when we’re all playing cohesive volleyball we’re a good team. It’s a bummer that we weren’t able to completely showcase that tonight.”
On the bright side, the U.S. now has a competitive training partner that’s a lot closer to home.
“I’d love to keep playing them,” Sullivan said. “Nice to have someone close to us in our zone and we don’t have to fly 14 hours to go play.”