Cuba overpowers Canada to capture world championship berth
FORT MCMURRAY, Canada, May 20, 2017 – Cuba qualified to the U21
FIVB World Championship after defeating hosts Canada to reach
the gold-medal match at the age-group Pan American Cup at the
Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre at Keyano College in Fort
McMurray.
The Cubans overcame Canada 3-1
(19-25, 25-22. 25-18, 25-19) in Saturday’s semi-final.
“We are very happy because we qualified for the World
Championships,” stated Adrian Goide captain of the Cuban
team. “We expected to win.”
Osniel Melgarejo and Miguel Lopez has 18 points each for Cuba.
Miguel Gutierrez contributed five aces.
Organized in the first set, Canada looked strong to win by by
six points. However, Cuba was not content to let the host
country run away with a World Championship berth. Although
Canada led by four late into the second set, Cuba eventually won
the second by three, and didn’t really look back from that
point.
“I think we played well, but at the end we missed some passes
and made other mistakes, and against a team like Cuba, there is
no mercy,” said Canada’s head coach Gino Brousseau. “I saw my
players getting tired toward the end – it’s been a long
tournament, but I’m proud of them because they fought really
hard.”
Sharone Vernon-Evans had 18 points for Canada, while Eric
Loeppky had 17, with three aces.
Canada’s coach continued: “We told them Cuba would come out
strong, as they did last year, and this year we were ready for
it. We were more prepared for Cuba this year, but unfortunately
did not win the match.”
Cuba now plays for gold against Brazil, and Canada for bronze
against Guatemala on Sunday (May 21). |