Canada clinch success at the semis of 2012 NORCECA Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
Men’s national volleyball team of Canada exhibited stellar performance at the semi-final match of 2012 NORCECA Continental Olympic Qualification Tournament on Friday and secured the spot in the final showdown.
Canada was challenged by Puerto Rico in the semi-final match at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach California. The two teams staged a five-set thriller, which created a whole lot excitement among volleyball enthusiasts. After a point-to-point battle, Canada
managed to overcome the resilient rival and posted 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 15-11) victory. More than two thousand spectators witnessed the thrilling action.
Puerto Rico’s Juan Figueroa staged an eye-catching action on net and charted match-high 30 points. He made total of 76 attack attempts in the match. Two other Puerto Rican players also went into double-figure score. Ezequiel Cruz chipped 20 points, while
Jose Rivera contributed 14 points, in the failing effort.
Team Canada was led by led by Fred Winters, who registered 19 points. His was followed by the trio of Toontje Van Lankvelt, Gavin Schmitt and Justin Duff, who notched up 13 points each.
Match was opened on a high note as both teams went straight into action with first whistle of referee. The exchange of powerful serves in early few minutes set the tone for a great competition. Canada hit with power, while Puerto Rico responded in the same
tone. First set continued for 24 minutes, while Puerto Rico claimed better status with only three points (25-22).
The competition picked up pace in the second set. Canada threw everything in attack to cover the deficit. The hard work paid off and they managed to down Puerto Rico with narrow margin of two points at 25-23.
The see-saw battled continued in third set. Puerto Rico improved to 2-1 by winning third stanza before Canada came back firing and created the dead-lock of 2-2 in fourth set. Canada captured the fourth set with identical score of 25-23.
The game entered fifth decisive set and spectators stood on the tip of their toes to know the outcome of the match. Finally, Canada proved to better and closed the set 15-11.
Puerto Rico captain Victor Rivera said, “Congrats to Canada. They were playing at a really hard level. They let their guard down against us. It happens a lot when you play at a high level. I think our problem is we had it and we didn’t control it. Their
experience came out at the end. Of course they have a better team than us right now. In this sport, there is no small enemy. You just need to want it really bad. It’s all confidence. We just made too many mistakes in the end.”
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