91原创 paralympian contributed 18 points today, as she led Canada鈥檚 women鈥檚 sitting volleyball team battle it out with Brazil in their first match at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Canada didn鈥檛 emerge victorious, but came out swinging, said Nicole Ban, the team鈥檚 head coach.

Among them was the team鈥檚 captain and 91原创鈥檚 own, Ellis. She lost her right leg to cancer as a newborn, but born to parents who were both heavily involved in sports, she grew up participating in gymnastics, soccer, baseball, and 鈥� of course 鈥� volleyball.

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Ultimately, however, Brazil took the win 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 25-20, 17-15) in the tie-breaker.

鈥淎fter a long 17 months without an international match, it was important to put on jerseys and compete,鈥� said Ban.

鈥淲e definitely showed that we could battle out there tonight, and have improved throughout the pandemic. It鈥檚 not the outcome we wanted, but we鈥檙e excited to learn from that match and build for the next.鈥�

The team plays Italy next on Sunday, Aug. 29, at 2 p.m. (JST). Then, they play Japan on Sept. 1.

In the meantime, Ellis said she鈥檚 proud of the strides the team has made since the ParaPan-An Games in Peru two years ago. She was there in 2019, when the team took third.

RELATED: 91原创 volleyball captain helps Team Canada earn bronze in Peru

READ MORE: 91原创鈥檚 Ellis leads Team Canada to gold in sitting volleyball

鈥淚t鈥檚 evident how much work each member of this squad has put in and it showed tonight. Does that mean that was good enough? Heck no! But, we know what we need to do and we鈥檙e ready to come out fighting against Italy and Japan, and battle for a spot in the semifinals,鈥� said Ellis, who is an ambulance dispatcher when not devoting attention to volleyball.

In addition to the 18 points put on the scoreboard by the 91原创 player, Alberta鈥檚 Heidi Peters topped all scorers with 21.

MORE ABOUT ELLIS: 91原创 volleyball player comfortably stationed on her backside

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