Off the back of 25 points from Kiera Van Ryk, the Canadians won a five-setter 25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 15-25, 15-12.

It was the perfect way to respond after an agonising defeat to Turkey yesterday, where Canada had been two points from victory but lost seven on the spin to allow their opponents back into it.

"It's surreal," Andrea Mitrovic, who herself contributed 17 points, told Volleyball World. 

"I can't believe it. 

"Our team was fighting all the way through like coming down, yesterday we lost a five-setter, but today we knew how to come back and fight as a team."

The United States and Turkey beat The Netherlands and Germany respectively, in straight sets, to stay unbeaten in this year's women's VNL.

Serbia, the Dominican Republic and Brazil also enjoyed straight-sets wins, in their respective cases over Thailand, South Korea and Russia.

Japan saw off a fightback from the host nation to down Italy 27-25, 25-19, 16-25, 21-15, 15-13, and now have four wins from five games.

Belgium won the day's other match, overcoming Poland in a fifth-set tiebreak.

All 16 teams are set to be in action again tomorrow.