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GATINEAU, Canada, June 25, 2015 - The United States rolled past
El Salvador 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-22) to finish second in Pool B
at the U21 Men’s Pan American Cup at the Centre Sportif de
Gatineau.
The North American team dominated their Central American rivals
in attacks (42-17), blocks (11-4) and serving aces (3-0).
Matthew Walsh Jr. led the American attack with 14 points, two
more than Andrew Benesh. Mauricio Rivas was the top scorer for
El Salvador with nine points.
John Hatch, captain of the United States: “I thought we played a
lot better as a team today. After the loss yesterday I think we
regrouped well. We came out and ran our system. Game three got a
little close but that was good for us to try something new and
then adjust to see if we can pull it out and get a win. Overall
it was a good game. I’m looking forward to playoffs and seeing
what we can do.”
Dan Friend, coach of the United States: “I definitely thought in
the first two games we did a nice job, we took control of the
things we wanted to. We talked yesterday how we didn’t pass as
well as we wanted to, so we focused on some first ball contact.
I think we’re still trying to work through some of that but
ultimately we we’re definitely good. In the third game you saw
us do a couple different things with that but El Salvador picked
up their game, I thought they did some nice things. In the end
we were able to finish it off and I’m looking forward to getting
ready to the quarter finals tomorrow.”
Samuel Valdez, captain of El Salvador: "We were very nervous in
the first two sets, playing against the name and not equally as
players. We found our best level in the third set, but we made
key mistakes, in part due to our lack of experience, and they
took advantage. The third set showed that anything is possible
if we believe in it. We have to continue working hard to beat
teams at this level.”
Ricardo Rivera, head coach of El Salvador: “Our guys were a bit
nervous at the beginning of the match, not believing that we
could have a good game, but the third set was the best. However,
some of our key players lacked the courage to capitalize on the
advantage. At some point, we led by four points. This was our
best showing so far and it erases low par performances in
previous matches. We will now prepare for the 6th place match
and to defend our Central American title in August to be able to
return to this continental event next year.” |
