Women’s Volleyball Team Canada didn’t do as well as they were hoping at the Pan American Games in Toronto this year, but Roberts Creek’s Kyla Richey is taking what she learned and moving forward.
“If we’re going to lose it’s going to be now, and I hope that it’s going to light a fire under us so we don’t lose again,” Richey said.
The team finished in eighth place after getting bumped out of the quarterfinals by Argentina, and then losing seventh place to Peru.
The deciding game was between Cuba and the Dominican Republic on July 20. Everyone expected Cuba to lose, but they didn’t. They beat the Dominican Republic 3-1.
Even though Canada had already beaten Cuba 3-1 on July 18, Cuba came out ahead in overall points, putting them in third place in the pool with Canada in fourth. That meant dropping out of the quarterfinals for Canada.
“We had lost that game [versus Argentina], which was super disappointing,” Richey said. “We thought that the Dominican would take this game, and we should be fine.”
The Dominican has a strong win record against Cuba. Had they won, Canada’s win against Cuba would have kept them in the quarterfinals.
“We were in disbelief over what was happening. We knew – when we were watching that game – that the Dominican had to win, or at least take them to five sets, for us to go through,” Richey said. “So it was basically just watching our fate play out and it was so painful.”
Once they were in fourth place, Team Canada was out of the running for a medal. That left them with only one more game in Pan Am, against Peru. They lost 3-2, the first loss to Peru in at least four years, by Richey’s recollection.
“This is probably the most disappointed I’ve ever been at a sporting event, in my entire life,” Richey said.
“It does put a bit of a damper on the whole experience, but looking back after it, the Pan Am Games – in general – were outstanding,” Richey said. “They did an amazing job, and the fans that we have, throughout all of those games, were incredible. I have never played in front of a Canadian crowd like that.”
Team Canada gets two weeks off (Richey called in for this interview from the Gumboot Café in Roberts Creek), then they head back to Winnipeg to train through the rest of August into the fall for the Norceca Championship qualifiers at the end of September.
They will need to come in the top four in order to qualify for the Olympic qualifiers scheduled for January.
The players on Team Canada will be heading out to international teams after Norceca. They are negotiating their contracts to allow for them to come back to Canada in January for the Olympic qualifiers.
“We don’t get the opportunity to play in Canada very often,” Roberts Creek’s Kyla Richey said. “To be able to host Pan Am Games in Canada is really a once in a lifetime experience.”
