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MIAMI, Florida, June 30, 2009.-
Canada claimed its first victory in Pool B of
the Eighth Women’s Pan American Cup by defeating
Trinidad & Tobago 25-21, 25-10, 25-23 in the
final day of preliminary pool-play round at U.S.
Century Bank Arena of Florida International
University.
The Trinidadians slowed down in the latter
stages of set one after leading for the most
part of it and came alive again at the end of
set three against the more experienced
Canadians. The winners held advantages of 10-4
and 8-4 in blocks and aces respectively.
Sofie-Hanna Schlagintweit led Canada with 16
points including five aces and three blocks, and
Tonya Mokelki recorded 11 points, all in
attacks. Cole Meek contributed eight points with
four blocks and Jennifer Hinze had two aces
among her eight tallies.
Krystle Esdelle paced the Trinidadians offense
with 15 points and Kelly-Anne Billingy added 10
points.
“We started very slow with some of the players
who haven’t played much before,” said Arnd
Ludwig, the coach of Canada. “Then we started to
serve better. We slowed down in the third set
allowing the opponent to come back. We are
battling with some injuries, but we hope to play
better”.
“Our team is a lot better now that we finally
have the complete squad,” said Nicholson Drakes,
the coach of Trinidad & Tobago. “But we need to
eliminate the simple mistakes during the game. I
am very confident that we will play better the
rest of the tournament.”
After a rest day on July 1, Canada next plays
Mexico (5th in Pool A) while Trinidad & Tobago
meets Costa Rica (4th in Pool A) on July 2 at
University of Miami.
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