Canada loses 3-2 to South Korea in women’s Volleyball Nations League action

ISTANBUL — Canada’s women’s team opened the second leg of the 2025 Volleyball Nations League with a 3-2 loss to South Korea on Wednesday.

Set scores were 27-25, 25-18, 15-25, 20-25 and 15-13.

Canada came back from a 2-0 deficit and led the final set 6-1 before the Koreans stormed back.

Abby Guezen, playing in her first VNL match this year, led Canada with 17 points, all off the attack.

Anna Smrek added 16 points, including four off the block.

Canada (2-3) sat in 10th place at the tournament heading into a match Thursday against host Turkey.

“It’s not the result we wanted,” Canada head coach Giovanni Guidetti said. “Korea put our attack in trouble and our block defence was not enough. But we knew that we came to Istanbul with a very young team with many players in their first full VNL match.

“I’m happy the team didn’t give up after going down 2-0. … We want to keep working, progressing and pushing every match.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.