Belgium hands Canada's women 5th straight loss in Volleyball Nations League

The Canadian women's team ended the preliminary round of Volleyball Nations League with a 3-0 loss (26-24, 25-17, 25-17) to Belgium on Sunday in Rimini, Italy.

It was Canada's fifth straight defeat, leaving the team 14th of 16 teams with a 3-12 record in its tournament debut.

Kiera Van Ryk of Surrey B.C. collected a team-high 15 points in the losing effort, while Belgium's Britt Herbots topped all scorers with 23.

"This match individually showed a lot of fight — we were going to the very end," said Canadian captain Jennifer Cross of Scarborough, Ont., who had five points on Sunday.

"I think that we actually did a really good job during this tournament. We have a very young team, so we didn't know what to expect. We showed good volleyball and hyper-energy. We go for it all the time. We are building our squad. The result is not what we wanted, but there are a lot of lessons to learn."

WATCH | Belgium's Britt Herbots posts 26 points in sweep of Canada:

Only the top four clubs advance to the semifinals.

Although final rankings are still to be determined, the first-place United States (14-1) is guaranteed to advance. Joining the Americans is Brazil, Japan and Turkey.

The Canadian men play their final three games of the tournament starting Monday against the Netherlands at 4 a.m. ET, followed by Australia on Tuesday and Serbia on Wednesday

All matches will be live streamed at CBCSports.ca.

WATCH | Van Ryk says VNL experience will prepare team for 2024 Olympic qualifiers: