United States sweep Canada

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, September 13, 2011 - The U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team defeated Canada 25-19, 25-19, 25-23 Tuesday evening during Pool B of the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship being held in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

The U.S., ranked second in the world by the FIVB, concludes its three-time round-robin pool versus Trinidad & Tobago (0-1) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Earlier in the tournament Canada defeated Trinidad & Tobago in four sets and finished the pool with a 1-1 record as it has a bye on Wednesday.

The U.S. was led by Destinee Hooker’s 18 points. Logan Tom tallied 10 points while Heather Bown charted 10 points. Sarah Pavan led Canada with 17 points and Marisa Field added eight points in the loss, including a match-high four blocks.

Canada out-blocked the Americans 11-5 to offset the Team USA 45-33 advantage in kills. The U.S. held a 6-1 margin in aces and committed three fewer errors at 19-16.

“I thought Canada played a good match,” U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “I thought we were good in a couple phases of the game. Offensively, we could have been cleaner at the net. It was an okay start to the tournament, but we need to be better tomorrow.

“I think we can come away from today’s match happy with our serve-receive,” U.S. captain Jennifer Tamas said. “I hope we can improve in all facets of our game as we go along in the tournament.”

“I thought we played well today,” Canada captain Tammy Mahon said. “I think we fixed some things from yesterday’s performance. USA doesn’t give away too many points, so you have to play well against them.”

“Congratulations to USA – they played really well today,” Canada coach Arnd Ludwig said. “We had a better performance today than yesterday, and I am happy overall with our performance.”