Canada to meet Dominican Republic in semis

 

MONTERREY, Mexico, December 20, 2007.- Canada advanced to a semi final match against the Dominican Republic with an easy victory over Trinidad & Tobago in the first match of Thursday at the Norceca Women’s Olympic Qualifier Tournament. The North Americans won by score of 25-12, 25-13, 25-14.

 

Falin Schaeffer and Tasha Holnes led Canada with 10 and 9 points respectively. Schaeffer included 6 blocks and Holness added 5. Krystle Esdelle led Trinidad & Tobago with 10 points and Darlene Ramdin added 8.

 

“Trinidad & Tobago continues to improve every year and is a team with good potential,” said Naoki Miyashita, the coach of Canada. “I am excited about the match of tomorrow against Dominican Republic and we will give our best effort.”

 

“I am deeply satisfied with the performance of my team against a team as strong as Canada,” said Francisco Cruz, the coach of Trinidad & Tobago. “We scored much better today and the girls seemed to be more relaxed.”

 

Melissa Raymond, Captain of Canada: “We started slow but Trinidad & Tobago is an improving team. The match tomorrow against Dominican Republic is going to be a good one, and that is where we wanted to be.”

 

Carleen Williams, Captain of Trinidad & Tobago: “Canadá is very strong and is an honour to play against them. I see a lot of improvement in my team and today we had a good performance considering the level of the Canadians.”

 

Canada dominated the first set with an 8-1 jump start. Tasha Holness led the North Americans with five points, including two blocks and one ace.

 

Another 8-1 start put Canada on the road to an easy triumph in the second set. The big serves of Stacey Gordon were the key for the early lead.

 

In the third set, the Trinidadians attacked better but also were victims of poor volleying and at the end the result was very similar to the previous sets.