Second U21 Pan Am Cup win for Canada
FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA, CANADA: Canada again thrilled its home
crowd with a win over Barbados tonight at the U21 Pan American
Cup at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre at Keyano College
in Fort McMurray.
Canada won 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-16). The Canadians got off to a
strong start, but faltered a bit later in the match.
Barbados led at the first technical time out of the third set,
but the home team tied the set at 10, and then was buoyed by
Eric Loeppky’s strong serving to score six in a row. (Loeppky
ended up with 17 points as Canada’s top scorer).
Gino Brousseau, Canada’s head coach, explained: “We had a good a
good start, but I had to be insistent at one point because they
were not doing well, but we came back after that. At this level
you have to be on top of your game all the time – it doesn’t
matter who is on the other side of the net. You have to give 100
percent, and if you give your opponent an opportunity, they will
take advantage of that.”
He continued: “I’m very pleased because they came back and we
had a good finish. We have to work on our game plan for tomorrow
because playing Brazil will be a big challenge for us. Tomorrow
night we’re going to give it everything we have.”
Barbados’ coach was also satisfied with his squad.
“Today I’m happy,” said Alberto
Caballero, Barbados’
head coach.
“Of course Canada is a superior team, they are more physical
than us but we scored a lot of points. We were leading the third
set at some point and we had 10 hits. My team played very well.
They blocked, they spiked, they defended!”
Ashan Jordan and Jherard Morris-Sealy scored six each for
Barbados.
The tournament is a qualifier
for the U21 World Championships: Brazil and Chile will battle
for the ticket available to South America while Canada, Cuba,
Puerto Rico, Barbados and Guatemala will be vying for the
NORCECA vacancy.
May 16 (local time)
12:00 Cuba v Chile 3-0
18:00 Brazil v Barbados 3-0
20:00 Canada v Guatemala 3-0
May 17
16:00 Chile v Puerto Rico 1-3
18:00 Guatemala v Brazil 0-3
20:00 Canada v Barbados 3-0
May 18
16:00 Puerto Rico v Cuba
18:00 Barbados v Guatemala
20:00 Canada v Brazil
Finals rounds on May 19-21 |