A Campbell River teen served, set and spiked her way to helping Canada win their opening match at the FIVB Girls’ U18 World Championship in Egypt today.
Emoni Bush, 16, earned 13 points in three sets during Canada’s 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22) victory over Korea.
“Korea was excellent in the first set, but our approach to the game did not change,” said head coach Scott Koskie. “We made some adjustments and continued to follow our plan. At the end of each set we had a different player come up with a big play to help us get this win.”
Bush, a student at Carihi Secondary School, was Canada’s second highest scorer, with Vancouver’s Katarina Pantovic earning 15 points. Bush and Pantovic are the team’s only B.C. representatives.
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A member of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation, Bush has always been athletic and started playing volleyball when she was 13.
The U18 volleyball championship is a chance to see some of the world’s rising stars in the sport.
The 20-team tournament opened in Egypt today with pool play, which will continue over five days followed by knockout and classification games. The medal games will take place on Sept. 14 in Ismailia.
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Canada is in Pool B, which also includes Korea, the United States, Mexico and Italy. Italy is the current two-time defending champion. Their pool games take place in Ismailia, which is nine hours ahead of Campbell River.
Canada and the U.S. are tied for the lead in their pool with one win each. Italy is scheduled to play their first game tomorrow.
Canada has a day off tomorrow before facing Mexico on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m. local time).
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