homepage

 

 

 

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.