Canada beats Guatemala to win bronze at the U21 Pan Am Cup
FORT MCMURRAY, Canada, May 21, 2017 - Canada finished on a high
note at the U21 Pan American Cup to pick up the bronze medal
today at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre at Keyano
College in Fort McMurray.
Guatemala was often overwhelmed by the bigger Canadian team that
dominated 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-19).
Sharone Vernon-Evans was the match top scorer with 17 points,
followed by the consistent Eric Loeppky with 12 points.
“We are happy, as you saw I think our players were very, very
tired. It has been a long week for us – six matches in six days,
which is very demanding,” explained Canada’s head coach Gino
Brousseau. “Today, we just managed the game and I didn’t ask for
a big performance. Now we will wait to see if we have qualified
for the Worlds.”
After finishing third, Canada will have to play the waiting game
to see if the team has a wild-card berth to the FIVB U21 World
Championships. Brazil and Cuba qualified from this tournament
as the top teams for their zone (South America and NORCECA).
Guatemala finishes fourth overall.
“We knew what the result would be, and we’re very happy to have
the opportunity to compete at this Pan Am Cup and finish
fourth,” said Reider Lucas, the team’s head coach. “I think we
played better than Tuesday when we first faced Canada, we’re
still making errors that we need to fix. My guys improved and it
has been a very good experience for them, we really enjoyed it.”
Brazil and Cuba are battling for gold and silver. |