USA vs. Puerto Rico in final match

 

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, January 10, 2008.- Puerto Rico will meet USA in the decisive match of the NORCECA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The host team moved to the gold medal match with a win over Canada 41-39, 25-21, 25-19 on Thursday night before more than 9,000 spectators.

 

Hector “Picky” Soto led Puerto Rico with 27 points and Jose Rivera and Luis Rodriguez added 11 and 10 respectively. Dallas Soonias (22), Fred Winters (11) and Steve Brinkman were in double digits for Canada.

 

“We have played a great match and our serves complicated the game for the Canadians,” said Carlos Cardona, the coach of Puerto Rico.

 

“We were very inconsistent even in the first set and on the other hand Puerto Rico played very stable,” said Glenn Hoag, the Canadian coach.

 

Puerto Rico won the intense first set taking advantage of two mistakes of Canada at the end when the blockers of Canada touched the net and Soonias’ attack was too long. It was the twelfth set-point for Puerto Rico while Canada had two chances of winning.

 

Soto carried Puerto Rico to the victory in the second set. The host team was ahead in the score from start to finish.

In the third set, Soto had the support of Rodriguez and Jose