Canada reaches the U21 Pan American Cup semifinals undefeated

HAVANA, Cuba, June 7, 2023.- Canada beat Dominican Republic in straight sets 25-17, 25-14 and 25-22 to top pool A undefeated and advance directly into the semifinals of the U21 Men’s Norceca Pan American Cup, to be held on Friday at Ciudad Deportiva Coliseum.

The North Americans didn’t give any chances to Dominican Republic with a strong serve that put their reception in difficulties, while they had good combinations in attacks. In this skill they held a 44-25 advantage, in blocking 7-5 and in aces 7-1, but committed too many errors  (22-17).

Opposite Brendan Mills and outside hitter Jacob Sargent were the top scorers of the match with 14 points each, followed by outside hitter Kaden Schmidt with 12. On the opponents’ side, only their team captain Ronny Molina tallied 10 points, the only one with double digits.

Canada’s German coach Arnd Ludwin said “we played well, in the middle of the set we had some problems, but we solved them. Dominicans are always battling. Tomorrow we will rest, that’s good for their recovery, and we will practice in the afternoon, while we wait to see who will be our opponent in Friday’s semifinal”.

Jacob Sargent, Canada captain, expressed “I am very happy for the match and finish first in our pool. Dominican Republic is a team that is always battling, we came out to give our all with good blocking and other actions to come out with the win”.

Dante Mañón, Dominican coach, said with happiness “this has been our best match, they were loose, without pressure and I gave bench players an opportunity in this last preliminary match. It was as we expected, we played stronger than yesterday. There is no doubt they did their best”.  

Dominican captain Ronny Molina said “we got together a little while ago, it’s the second time we played all together and I think we did it very well. We are anxious to reach our goals and we still haven’t, but I hope that we will adjust well. I like the way Canada plays, they are a great opponent, they fight, they have a tall block and make the match difficult. They are always good coaches”.