Canada defeats Puerto Rico by 3-1: Pan American Games - Volleyball
The 5 to 8 classification matches of the men’s volleyball tournament at the Pan American Games took place on the Friday, October 28, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Canadia battled with Puerto Rico in four gruelling sets at the end of which the Canadians found themselves
on the winning end. The final set scores at the end of the day stood at the following points: 25-20, 19-25, 25-19 and 25-20.
The first set of the match started off with both teams almost even with each other but as the frame progressed, the Canadians were able to create themselves a lead and bag a win in the end. The Puerto Ricans were able to put on a good show in the second
set and make the match reach a tie by securing a win. The start of the third set of the match saw the two teams come out strong but as the game progressed, the Canadians were able to get the advantage and stick with it till the end. The fourth set saw a bit
of a struggle between the two teams but finally the match ended in favour of the Canadians at a fourth set win.
The coach of the Canadian team, Vincent Pichette, expressed himself in the following words at the press conference that was conducted after the match reached its close: “We lived the same situation two days ago, playing a lot of sets. We made some mistakes,
and there are some things we have learned and have to improve, but we feel happy for this victory.”
On the other hand, the assistant coach of the Puerto Rican team Ramon Hernandez, shared his feelings by making the following statements: “They just were much better than us. It is difficult to recover in less than 24 hours, but we don’t take off the credit
of the victory by Canada.”
The Canadians were able to perform better than the Puerto Ricans in terms of blocking. The effective blocking strategy of the Canadians enabled them to earn a total of 10 points off the blocks whereas the Puerto Ricans were able to secure only three points
off the blocks.
The player that was the most effective in terms of points in the match was the Canadian Spencer Leiske. Leiske was able to make his presence felt by securing a total of 19 points. On the other hand, the most active Puerto Rican player was Jean Carlos Ortiz
who was able to keep the pressure on the Canadians by adding a total of 14 points of his own.
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