Canada's women's team drops Volleyball Nations League opener to Poland

The Canadian women's national indoor volleyball team took the first set, but eventually fell to Poland 3-1 to kickstart its FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) campaign in Shreveport, Louisiana on Wednesday.

Led by Surrey, B.C.'s Kiera Van Ryk's 5 points, Canada took the first set 25-20. But No. 12-ranked Poland grabbed the next three sets 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20 to complete the comeback.

Alexa Gray of Calgary had 19 points overall to lead Canada. Van Ryk had 14, while Hilary Howe added nine.

Martyna Lukasik scored 17 to lead Poland.

WATCH l Canada falls to Poland in Volleyball Nations League action:

Canada, ranked 19th in world, will return to action on Thursday to take on No. 6 Dominican Republic at 9 p.m. ET.

The Canadians also have matches against the United States (Friday, 9 p.m. ET) and against Korea (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET). All games will be available to stream via CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem.

The new competition format for the 2022 VNL will see 16 women's teams compete in pools of eight over three weeks of the pool phase.

Each team competes in four matches over six days of competition per week. Eight teams will then move into the final knockout phase of the competition.