Canadian women's volleyball team fails to clinch Olympic spot for Paris

Canada kept its Olympic women's volleyball hopes alive on Saturday with a victory over Mexico at the Olympic qualification tournament in Ningbo, China, only to have them dashed hours later when Serbia and the Dominican Republic won their respective matches.

Only the top two qualified from each of the three eight-team pools. Serbia (5-1) secured the top spot, picking up three points in a three set to zero victory over the Netherlands. Later, the Dominican Republic (5-1) also earned three points in its 3-1 win over China to finish second.

Canada ended up fourth with a 4-2 record but finished one point behind the Netherlands, also 4-2, which lost to the Canadians in its tournament opener.

Canada probably will need to improve upon its world ranking next summer to gain entry to the 12-team Olympic tourney. The final spots will be determined at the conclusion of the Volleyball Nations League season.

The Canadians, with little room for error following consecutive losses to the Dominicans and Serbia, delivered clutch victories over China (3-3) on Wednesday and two days later against Ukraine (1-5).

Canada was tested by Mexico (0-6) in the first two set Saturday but cruised to victory, 25-22, 25-22, 25-17).

The Canadians were led in scoring by Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey, B.C., (17 points), Calgarians Alexa Gray (13) and Hilary Howe (12), and Emily Maglio of Coquitlam, B.C. (11).

Canada wraps up play Sunday against the Czech Republic (2-4) at 1 a.m. ET. Live coverage of the match will be available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

WATCH | Full match coverage of Canada vs. Mexico from Olympic qualifier: