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RENO, USA (Aug. 15, 2015)
– Cross-boarder rivals Canada and United States battled it out
on Saturday, with Canada pulling out the five-set victory,
27-29, 25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 19-17 in the quarterfinals of the
Pan American Cup at the Reno Events Center.
Canada (3-1) will play Argentina (3-0) in Sunday’s semifinals.
The United States (1-3) will play Puerto Rico for fifth-eighth
place.
A tension-filled fifth set saw Canada reach match point first at
14-13 with a tip from Nick Del Bianco, but Greg Petty responded
with a kill. Canada reached a second match point with a spike,
but then served the next ball out of bounds. The U.S. also held
two match points that Canada fought off. Finally, at 17-17, the
U.S. hit the ball out of bounds and Canada’s Daniel Vandoom
followed with a kill off the block for the win.
Canada led the match in spikes (66-57) and blocks (15-10) while
the U.S. held the edge in aces (4-3). The U.S. also scored 39
points on Canada errors while committing 32. Twenty-five of
Canada’s errors were on serves, many coming under the pressure
of the fifth set.
Canada’s hitting efficiency was .303 while the United States’
was .220.
Canada’s outside hitter Stephen Maar led all scorers with 21
points on a match-high 21 spikes. Casey Schouten added 19 points
on 16 spikes and three blocks. Canada’s middle blocker Braden
Mclean had a match-high six blocks.
The United States was led by outside hitter AJ Nally with 16
points on 14 spikes, one block and one ace. Opposite Kyle
Russell, who substituted in the second set and started the next
three, scored 15 points on 12 spikes and three blocks. Middle
blocker Jeff Jendryk also had three blocks for the U.S.
U.S. Setter Graham McIlvaine
“The second set was hard to deal with, but you have to deal with
situations like that all the time. I thought we did pretty well
given the circumstances. The best thing Canada was doing was
passing. They really passed well off our serves and then they
ran their offense really well. There really wasn’t much we could
to about it except try to get a tough. We did that a couple
times.”
U.S. Coach Jeff Nygaard
“Sometimes having a brutal second set re-sets everybody;
re-carves out their emotions and their energies; kind of settles
them. Dropping a game like that when it becomes constructive
shows resilience and resolve. It was great to see our comeback
from that. Game five, we had two chances (to win). We had two
aggressive swings. It just didn’t go our way.”
Canada Captain Brett Walsh
“When you’re in the heat of the battle, you are thinking about
the task at hand. That’s a player’s dream to be playing
high-level volleyball in the fifth set; especially for us it was
against the States and we had a little North American battle,
which is always fun. We’re lucky to be here and we’re happy to
come out on top of that match.”
Canada Coach Georges Laplante
“It was a little bit up and down. I was happy that we came back
after losing the first set a bit tight. We didn’t play well the
last couple point the first set. After that we bounced back. I
think for those guys it’s good to learn. We didn’t serve well in
the fifth set. I think the guys were too nervous. The were not
relaxed and just doing what they are good at.” |
