Northern NORCECA Battle Won by U.S. Men

NORTH BAY, Canada, July 3, 2016 -   Although Canada was well-represented in its home country tournament, the final match went to the United States’ Marty Lorenz and Adam Roberts.

Lorenz and Roberts beat Canada’s Christian Redmann and Felipe Humana-Paredes in three sets (21-17, 15-21, 15-9).

“It definitely was a battle. Christian Redmann is an experienced player and he’s very calm and collected,” said Roberts.

“The final was great – we played those guys in pool play and we battled,” said Lorenz, who has been paired with Roberts since October 2015. “It could have gone either way both times.”

All the participants were impressed with the tournament organization.  “I’ve played in about a dozen NORCECA events, and this is the best I’ve ever played in. The staff and volunteers were excellent and people were overwhelming nice. I just want to thank everyone for a great experience here in North Bay,” said Roberts.

The Canadian teams were still well-represented on the podium at the Canor Molson Sand Centre in North Bay today with silver and bronze on the men’s side.

“When you battle all weekend long and it comes down to one final set, and you don’t pull it out, obviously it’s going to be a little disappointing, especially in front of our home crowd,” said silver medalist Humana-Paredes,  whose father Hernan was a Chilean national team member, and sister Melissa plays on the FIVB World Tour.  “I’m still happy that we have two Canadian teams on the podium this weekend.”

The bronze medal went to Canada’s Mike Plantinga and Cam Wheelan, after beating Miles Evans and Spencer McLachlin of the United States 2-1.

“We stuck to our game plan, and we struggled a bit in the second set siding out. But we made sure we stayed aggressive,” said Plantinga.  “We’re bigger than both guys, so we were just hitting high and hard and scoring points that way.  We always have good battles against the U.S.”

This is the third NORCECA beach stop hosted in the Ontario city, located on the shores of Lake Nipissing.

Men’s Final Results Day Three

CAN3 Battison/Grabovskyy d ESA Tato/Pepe 2-0 (21-18, 21-18); CAN2 Redmann/Humana-Paredes d CAN1 Plantinga/Wheelan 2-0 (21-17, 21-18); USA2 Roberts/Lorenz d USA1 Evans/McLachlin 2-1 (23-21, 22-24, 15-11)  CAN3 Battison/Grabovskyy (5^th place)  v. MacNeil/Towe (forfeit). Bronze Medal Match: CAN1 Plantinga/Wheelan d USA1 Evans/McLachlin 2-1 (21-16, 18-21 15-10). Gold Medal Match: USA2 Roberts/Lorenz d CAN2 Redmann/Humana-Paredes 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-9).