Venezuela wins the Bronze Medal at Men’s Final Four

MONTERREY, Mexico, November 9, 2013. –Venezuela defeated Canada in straight sets 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 to win the Bronze Medal at the I Men’s Final Four Cup.

Highly motivated for the rematch against Canada and coming win-less from the preliminary round, Venezuela took control from start to finish. Canada pushed hard but came downhill engagingin mistakes to finish in fourth place.

Venezuela was better than Canada offensively with a 42-30 advantage and also in aces by 5-2. They broke even in the blocking area and unforced errors by 9 and 19 respectively.

Luis Arias was the top scorer with 13 points for Venezuela, accompanied by Carlos Paez, Hector Salerno and Daniel Escobar with 10 points apiece. Canada’s JeremieLortie finished with 10 points.

“Overall this was a good preparation for us, it was a good match and Canada performed well. My team showed improvement from the first match and we’re very pleased with the bronze medal” indicated Venezuela’s captain Luis Arias.  

Canadian captain Justin Boudreault said “it was a good game and our little mistakes cost us the match, as well as Venezuela’s good weapon: their attack. We must practice not only in our skills but in staying sharp”.

Cuban coach for Venezuela Gerardo Nodarse leaves very pleases with their performance, he expressed “the whole tournament was a learning experience and today’s opponent, Canada, showed a lot of perspective”.

“The goal was to give exposure to our young players and for them to gain experience, which was a privilege and we’re thankful with the organization. In the second set there was a sequence of errors that discouraged my team. Skill wise there is much to work on and we’re taking home a lot of information to evaluate” said Vincent Pichette of Canada.