Canadian women lose tough Volleyball Nations League match to unbeaten Japan in Ottawa

Canada will be aiming to level its record at 2-2 when it plays Serbia on Sunday to cap off the first week of women's Volleyball Nations League action.

Canada slipped to 1-2 with a 3-0 loss to Japan in a best-of-five match played Saturday in front of more than 5,100 spectators at the Arena at TD Place in Ottawa.

Canada dropped the match to Japan 24-26, 20-25, 19-25. The unbeaten Japan squad led in attack points (39-33), serving (7-3) and made fewer errors 19-30).

"Japan is really tough to play against, and we were right there with them," said Canadian setter Brie O'Reilly of Langley, B.C. "We're just missing those after-20 [points] plays and finishing sets.

"We need to stay aggressive and take confidence that there was a lot of our game that was really great."

WATCH l Canadian women fall to Japan in straight sets:

Canadian women's volleyball team falls to Japan in straight sets

O'Reilly said the Canadians need to server more aggressively against Serbia and "just keep our block defence systems working a bit more cohesively."

Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey, B.C., led the scoring for Canada with 13 points and also set a personal best with a serve clocked at 113 kilometres per hour.

Yukiko Wada of Japan led her team with 20 points.

Canada opened the VNL schedule with a win over Bulgaria and then lost a Thursday match to Netherlands.

Watch live coverage of Canada's match against Serbia on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, starting at 6 p.m. ET. For a full streaming schedule of volleyball events this season, click here.

WATCH | Full match replay — Japan vs. Canada:

FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League Ottawa: Japan @ Canada

Jessica Andrews — Guelph, Ont.
Lucy Borowski — Vancouver
Abby Guezen — Sherwood Park, Alta.
Hilary Johnson — C