Canada wins NORCECA Women opener to Cuba

 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, October 8, 2019.-   Canada won the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship to Cuba 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-17, 25-14) on Tuesday at Roberto Clemente Coliseum.

 

Canada started strength jumping to a comfortable advantage (11-6) with good rhythm and strong serves. Cuba responded well in the second recovering from a five point deficit (0-5) reducing their margin in errors and having a better chance to block Canada. Canada players got back on track to get their first win.

 

Canada led in kills 44-35 and held a sizeable margin in blocks (10-6) as well as in serves (10-5). The winners scored on 33 opponent errors against 26.

 

Ouside hitter Alexa Gray scored 21 points in Canada’s first victory, followed by outside hitter Kiera Van Ryk whose best skill was serves on 6 aces from her 20 point-total. Middle blocker Melanies Arcia and outside hitter Ivy May Vila topped Cuba with 10 points apiece.

 

The NORCECA Women’s Championship that qualifies (top three ranked teams) to the NORCECA final four Olympic Qualifier is being streamed on NORCECA TV www.internetv.tv

 

On day two of the event, Canada will face Costa Rica and Cuba goes against host Puerto Rico.

 

Kiera Van Ryk, outside hitter of Canada: “We stuck with our game plan, definitely had some bumps along the road it wasn’t a full match of being our perfect volleyball. When I’m serving, I just trust what I’ve practiced for a couple of years now and trusting my coaches where to direct my serves. Canada needs more consistency in during the game, we started really well and dipped in that second set”.

 

Thalia Moreno, capitana de Cuba: “We benefited from Canada’s error in the second set and we came on top with serves and attacks. Despite we are all less than 20 years old, we will go from less to more in the tournament and we are really motivated to be here”.

 

Benjamin Josephson, Head Coach of Canada: “I´m not glad. I’m sure Cuba made a few more mistakes that they wanted and they played better in the second set, showing they can really hit and block the ball, putting a lot of pressure and it took a little too long to respond. We had enough today to get through; our play in the fourth set in our block-defense was really special and we got to build on that to keep moving forward in this tournament”.

 

Tomás Fernández Arteaga, Head Coach of Cuba: “Hay que ponerle mucha intensidad al partido para que podamos desarrollar el nivel de juego de jugadoras tan pequeñas como las nuestras. No estoy conforme, no tuvimos lectura para el pase rápido, no funcionó el saque”.