Canada beat Trinidad and Tobago in Pool Q

MISSISSAUGA, Canada, May 17, 2014 - Today in NORCECA’s third-round of Men’s World Championship Qualification (Pool Q) action, home-crowd favourites Canada beat Trinidad in three sets 25-13, 25-11, 25-21.

The Canadian men join Costa Rica as the undefeated men’s teams in round-robin play.

Canadian head coach Glenn Hoag tried a different lineup tonight against Trinidad.  In his first official game as a starter Jason DeRocco delivered 17 points as the lead scorer for Canada.  Opposite Dallas Soonias, added 15.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Nolan Tash had five points in this team effort.  The third set proved challenging for both teams, but Canada delighted its fans in Mississauga, near Toronto, for the second night in a row with a decisive win.

“It was a good game, and it’s great to have all these fans out. It’s a different level and style of game than what we are used to, but we came out and played strong today, even though we had a little bit of a lapse in the third set. I think it was a good game for us.”-   Jason DeRocco, lead scorer for Canada

“Like last night, we were a little bit tentative in the first set, but we came around after that.  Blocking went well. We still need to work on our offense quite a bit, but overall we’re on track for the tournament.”  -  Canada’s Head Coach Glenn Hoag.

“We knew coming into the game that the odds were against us. We knew it was always going to be an uphill battle, but we didn’t count ourselves out because the game is won and lost on the court of play. We started a bit slow, as you could’ve seen with the results of the first two sets. However, as we started to get our confidence and composure going we put in a much better third set.” – Trinidad’s Nolan Tash, Team Captain

“We were outplayed today by the Canadians, a much more polished, much more experienced team. We represented what we could do in terms of how we can compete at this level. But the thing is we’re not playing enough at this level to take it to the next level. So although I’m a little disappointed, I’m still motivated to see how we competed in the third set. ” – Trinidad Head Coach Gideon Dickson.