SALTILLO, Coahuila, July 27, 2008.- In a match that for moments seemed favourable to Mexico, the team of Canada reacted and took the win to finish in the fifth position at the NORCECA Women’s Junior Volleyball Tournament.

The Mexicans came out determined to dedicate another victory to their fans who supported them each day of the tournament at the Nazario Ortiz Gym, and after winning 25-18, 25-21, and nearly closing out the third, the Canadians mounted a rebellion and took the next sets 34-32, 25-21, 15-12.

The last three sets demanded an extra from everyone and clearly exhausted they fought without respite, but the physical preparation of the Canadians came out evident and also the benefit of their height.

For the winners, the captain Sofie Schlagintweit made honour to her condition led the scoring with 21 points, followed by 16 apiece from giants Rebeca Pavan and Tabitha Love, the two tallest players of the tournament along with three others from United States.

For Mexico, Cecilia Rios was the top scorer of the match with 25 points, followed by Carolina Carranza (13) and Xitlali Herrera (11).

Normand Bouchard, coach of Canada: “We are grateful of the organizing committee and the state of Coahuila for this tournament, and congratulations for the support of the fans, who backed them without affecting Canada, and for the great team that Mexico has. I am very happy with the reaction of my players, who started slow, but came alive to win.”

Samuel Cibrian, coach of Mexico: “You have to win at the right moment, because later on the outcome does not forgive. The Canadians are superiors than us in both physical consistency and height, and we reached a moment when we couldn’t maintain the level of jump, nor the coordination and power in our arms. In the third set, the girls gave it all, anyway we hope to not have disappointed the fans, but we need to prepare with more time of anticipation.”

Xitlali Herrera, captain of Mexico: “It was a very close and exhausting match, the third set was the key for Canada to win, it was a very strong ser and after we allowed that moment to escape, we were very bad psychologically.”

Sofie Schlagintweit, captain of Canada: “Mexico started very well, making all the necessary changes, but we could fight, counter attack, and resist the offense of the opponents, even in some moments we could not do it. I congratulate the Mexicans for their fighting spirit during the match and it has been a pleasure to play like this from start to finish.”