Canada
opens Pan Am Cup with a victory
GATINEAU, Canada, June 13, 2011 – Canada dominated Puerto Rico
25-17, 25-17, 25-17 to open the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball
tournament but head coach Glenn Hoag and his players know they
will have to play much better if they plan to go deep into
tournament.
‘’There’s a lot of work to do and we are looking to get
better,’’ said Hoag at a post match press conference. ‘’For us,
this is a preparation for our Olympic qualifying tournaments
later this year.’’
Gavin Schmitt led the Canadian attack with 14 points while
Nicholas Cundy added seven and Justin Duff and Fred Winters six
each. Ezequiel Cruz was the top scorer for Puerto Rico with 10
points while Ulises Maldonado added nine.
‘’It was great to be back in the Canadian uniform,’’ said
Schmitt, who played professionally in South Korea this past
winter. ‘’We are working on getting back into the system and
right now we need to focus on execution and cohesion.’’
‘’We are here to obtain some valuable experience,’’ said Puerto
Rico’s head coach Ariel Diaz. ‘’We have some young guys who
have never played together before. We made a lot of mistakes
while Canada served and blocked really well.’’
‘’We haven’t been practicing that long together and this was the
first match for our group,’’ added Puerto Rico’s captain Eduardo
Goas. |