Canada’s hopes of a Paralympic gold medal in sitting volleyball came to an end Thursday with a clean sweep loss (25-22, 25-16, 25-18) to China in the semifinals at North Paris Arena.  

The Canadians will now have a rematch against Brazil in the bronze-medal game Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. 

World No. 2 Brazil bested Canada three sets to one in both the bronze medal match in Tokyo and in their Paris preliminary match. Canada, ranked first in the world, will have to be sharper on defence and make fewer mistakes if it is going to secure its first ever Paralympic medal in the sport. 

Paralympic rookie Sarah Melenka led Canada with 12 points, while Heidi Peters and Danielle Ellis each scored 11.  

Xu Yixiao had a game-high 17 points for China and Tang Xuemei had 12. The 41-year-old Xu was also a formidable presence at the net, leading China with four blocks on eight attempts.

Canadian head coach Nicole Ban said the team needed to make fewer unforced errors after the end of the preliminary stage, but mistakes continued to bite the Canadians. China finished with 22 points off opponent error to Canada’s 11.  

The Canucks appeared rattled early, with Felicia Voss-Shafiq playing a ball that was going out of bounds, and a number of spikes missing their targets.  

At the end of the first set, Canada had nine unforced errors to China’s four.  

Peters had her serve going in the first set, with two of her first four going for aces.  

The veteran outside hitter’s third ace of the game was the fastest serve of the tournament recorded at a blistering 65 km/h – six km/h faster than the previous best by China’s Tang. Peters had previously maxed out at 58 km/h and leads Canada with 15 aces. 

In the second set, China’s well-known defensive prowess was on display, as they bested Canada in digs 10 to two. They impressed getting to multiple spikes by hard hitting Canadians Peters and Ellis.  

With Canada down two sets to zero, the fourth point of the third set was the longest of the match. They desperately defended China’s attacks and Jennifer Oakes had multiple digs, but China eventually scored after a spike from Ellis went into the block.  

China has won consecutive silver medals and will be going to its sixth straight Paralympic final. They play the United States on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET.