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MEXICO CITY, Mexico, May 21, 2016.- Canada performed strong
against Costa Rica at the XI Men’s Pan American Cup, with a
victory by 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-11) on opening day at Olympic
Gymnasium Juan de la Barrera in Mexico City.
The Pool B match showed Canada powered up with huge advantage in
all categories: 40-17 in spikes, 7-1 in blocks and 9-1 in
serves. Canada had 20 unforced errors, while Costa Rica had 19.
Jason Derocco led Canada’s offence with 13 points, while Casey
Knight and Timothy Maar chipped in with 11 and 10 respectively.
Alberto Blanco led Costa Rica with 7 points.
Captain James Walsh of Canada said “the first set started off as
a challenge, Costa Rica was siding out well and serving
difficult, points were going back and forth, but once we went on
building into the match we found our rhythm and on top of the
ball, making it difficult for them. We have high expectations,
we are a young group, strong and talented, and we have high
hopes for sure”.
Captain Esteban Araya of Costa Rica indicated “the first match
is always difficult, you need to adjust to the court and in this
case against a strong opponent, with better height than us. I
feel we played our fast game, but we couldn’t score, but I’m
happy”.
Canadian coach Georges Laplante said “we played our style of
game, which was nice to break the nervousness of the first
match. The guys served well, with a lot of energy. At the end I
did some variations in the line-up with some of the younger
players, not everyone got to play”.
Coach Cesar Salas of Costa Rica expressed “Canada is a powerful
team and despite not having their starring players, it was
tough. We held advantage in the first set, we were able to play
fast as planned, but Canada adjusted their rotation and was able
to block us over the antenna. We are working on our receiving
and their serves were damaging, these matches help us to improve
which in the end is our objective”. |
