Dominican Republic beats Canada at Olympic qualifier

Lincoln, Nebraska.—The Dominican Republic women’s volleyball team beat their Canadian rivals infour sets at the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament on Friday — increasingtheir chances for a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Canada, ranked17th in the world, took the first set of the match 27-25 but droppedthe next three to the seventh-ranked Dominicans 16-25, 24-26 and 20-25.

The DominicanRepublic’s serve proved effective with a 13-5 edge in aces. The Dominicans helda 9-8 margin in blocks and a 61-49 advantage in kills. They face the UnitedStates Saturday evening.

The four-nationtournament winner will earn NORCECA’s berth into the 2016 Olympic Games in Riode Janeiro, Brazil.

The tournamentwinner will join Olympic host Brazil (No. 3 in the world), World Cup winnerChina (No. 2) and World Cup runner-up Serbia (No. 6) in the 12-country field inRio de Janeiro this summer.

Thesecond-place finisher goes to an eight-country tournament with more Olympicberths (four) on the line, but with a tougher field than the event where thethird-place team will end up (four countries, one Olympic berth).