|
GUADALAJARA, Mexico, August 28, 2021. - Canada
won pool A defeating Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-17,
25-22, 24-26, 25-14) to reach the semifinals of
the Women’s NORCECA Continental Championship
that grants two tickets to the 2022 FIVB World
Championship.
All three teams in pool A finished with the same
1-1 win-loss record, with top-ranked Canada
earning a direct spot into semifinals, followed
by United States and Puerto Rico respectively.
In quarterfinals, United States plays Costa Rica
and Puerto Rico waits for the loser between
Mexico and defending champions Dominican
Republic.
Canada jumped to an early lead in all four sets
with a consistent performance; Puerto Rico was
able to even score in the third set up to 14
all, the set they won, still struggling to
contain Canada’s middle blockers.
Las canadienses encabezaron todos los elementos
de juego, ataques (56-42), bloqueos (10-6) y
servicios (8-4), and giving away 27 points on
unforced errors against 25 from Puerto Rico.
Five players from Canada scored double-digits,
led by outside hitter Hilary Howe with a
match-high of 19 points, with 4 points as top
server, outside hitter Vicky Savard followed
with 16 points, middle blocker Alicia Ogoms
added 13 points and outside hitter Kyra Van Ryk
tallied 12 points.
Puerto Rico’s top scorers were outside hitters
Stephanie Enright and Marie Victoria with 12 and
11 points respectively.
Jennifer Cross, Captain of Canada: “We had a
great match, we focused on our side, and we were
really aggressive. We made adjustments from
yesterday’s game and we played Canadian
volleyball. Puerto Rico tried a lot of things
but I think it was more what we did. Tomorrow we
will take time to recover”.
Shannon Winzer, Coach of Canada: “We played
really well, we controlled from first contact
and Brie set an excellent game. We used our
middles far more than we did last night and they
were very effective, that freed up our outsides
a little more and we were able to rely on
multiple hitters rather than just one or two”.
Natalia Valentín, Captain of Puerto Rico:
“Canada was perfect, they had a specific game
play and executed it well. We never adjusted to
their game plan; we can learn from this and
continue the tournament strong”.
Fernando Morales, Coach of Puerto Rico: “Canada
had a clean performance, they played without
errors, and they received well too, compared to
yesterday when they had trouble in receiving and
the connection between the setter and attackers.
We did good for a moment but we were a little
anxious”. |
