Canada beats Trinidad & Tobago to reach the quarterfinals – Volleyball News
Nolan Tash added match-high 11 points, but Canada edged out Trinidad & Tobago 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 on Wednesday in the last match of Men’s Pan American Cup Prelims at the Ricardo Arias sports hall in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Canadian team earned its first win in the tournament and clawed its way to the quarter-final stage. Trinidad & Tobago, on the other hand, finished the pool-play with a devastating 0-3 record. T&T will now appear in the classification
round of the Pan Am Cup.
Sander Ratsep of Canada exhibited a stellar performance and added 11 points. He was followed by Christopher Hoag, who notched up 10 points.
Trinidad & Tobago had difficulty in serves, which created a fine opportunity for Canada to take the advantage in set-1. Canadian players formed nice combos and picked up an early lead. T&T remained on the same course and suffered
frequent set-backs. The gap of points widened as Canada continued with hard-hitting. Eventually, the opening frame of the match covered its length and Canada clinched success, 25-15.
Despite a bad start in the match, Trinidad & Tobago managed to give a good competition to the opponents in the second set. T&T players regrouped and responded the counterparts in the same tone. The second set saw an exchange of long
rallies and the score shifted up with close gaps. Canada did face trouble in set-2, but still managed to breeze past T&T with final score of 25-22.
Third set of the match was hotly contested and it featured an incredibly close competition. Canadian and T&T attackers came into stride, and fought for crucial points. However, third set also came successful for Canada as T&T fell
short of two points (25-23). Canada finished the match in three sets and marched away with victory.
Gideon Dickson, coach of Trinidad & Tobago: "Canada taught us to play more volleyball, they were way above the net. Their game helped us to learn. We were attacking with everything, but we faced a good game from the other side..
Overall it was our best game because we could implement more strategies despite the defeat."
Nolan Tash, captain of Trinidad and Tobago: "We played our best game. Despite not winning a set, we improved our skills and look forward to learning from the teams we play. Canada was above us and although the last two sets were
close, their superiority prevailed. Our receiving and serving errors at key moments caused our loss.”
Lawrence McKay, coach of Canada appreciated the team of Trinidad and Tobago for their hard work and good fight spirit. He also congratulated his players for winning the match.
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