USA women overcame Canada

COLORADO SPRINGS, USA, August 22, 2019 – The U.S. Women got over first-set jitters and went on to beat Canada, 18-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-20 on Thursday in the NORCECA Champions Cup at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center.

The U.S. Women led Canada in attacks (51-42), blocks (11-10) and ace (6-4).

U.S. outside hitters Sarah Wilhite and Kadie Rolfzen each finished with 17 points to lead the U.S. Wilhite and Rolfzen each finished with three blocks along with teammate Rhamat Alhassan. Rolfzen also had three aces to go with 11 attacks. Wilhite had 13 attacks.

Kiera Van Ryk led Canada with 16 points on 15 attacks and one block. Shainah Joseph added 13.

U.S. Captain Sarah Parsons: “Overall it felt great. I thought we had a lot of energy and fight in us. We worked out some kinks in the first set but after that we stayed really patient and worked well as a unit. Sam, our setter, did a good job of mixing it up, and that helped a lot. It took pressure off the pins. Everyone I thought played really well and stepped up.”

U.S. Head Coach Tayyiba Haneef-Park: “I think we had too many unforced errors. We were out of our rhythm and once we started to just keep the ball in the court it created more out of system offense for them. I think we stepped up our serve and our pass and it created a lot of difficulty for Canada. That was all part of our game plan. As long as we can stay true to keeping them out of system, we can put up a really good block and defense around it.”

Canada Coach Shannon Winzer: “I don’t think it was our strongest game. I thought our passing broke down, and that obviously affects your offense. We struggled to score. USA rallied from that and they got some momentum and it was tough for us to then catch back up. We had real glimpses of good volleyball, but it just wasn’t enough today.”