Canada's women stay in hunt for Olympic volleyball berth, outlasting host China

A gutsy and resilient Canadian women's volleyball squad remains in the mix for an Olympic berth.

Emily Maglio's ninth block of the match sent Canada to a five-set victory on Wednesday over China, site of the qualifying tournament for next summer's Games in Paris.

After the hosts saved match point in the deciding set, Canada outside hitter Kiera Van Ryk collected her team-high 26th point of the match to put her team ahead to stay at 16-15.

Captain Alexa Gray added 24 points for Canada, which prevailed 28-26, 15-25, 25-23, 22-25, 17-15 to even its record at 2-2 in Ningbo. China (3-1) suffered its first loss after sweeping Ukraine, Mexico and the Czech Republic.

The Canadians need a top-two finish in Pool A to secure their spot in Paris. They sit fifth at 2-2 behind Serbia (4-0), China, Netherlands (3-1) and Dominican Republic (3-1).

WATCH | Canada ekes out 5-set win over China at Olympic qualifier:

They opened play with a 3-2 loss to the Dutch before rebounding to beat the Dominicans by the same score. Canada suffered its second straight loss, falling 3-0 to third-ranked Serbia on Tuesday.

Following Thursday's off-day, Canada plays winless Ukraine (0-4) on Friday at 1 a.m. ET that will be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. From there, it's No. 23 Mexico (0-4) and the 16th-ranked Czechs (1-3) on the weekend.

Japan and Turkey are 4-0 atop Pool B, while Italy and United States lead Pool C with identical 4-0 marks.

Six other Olympic spots will be available via world ranking next year.

The Canadian women last qualified in Atlanta 1996, finishing ninth.

Qualifying for Paris would take the Canadian team to an overseas Games for the first time. Other than Atlanta, Canada only featured in Olympic