Canadian men secure a spot in 2012 Edition of World League – Volleyball News
The Men’s National Volleyball team of Canada did an amazing job at defeating Puerto Rico in a crucial match at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario on Sunday, August 21. They downed the Puerto Ricans by posting 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, and 25-19) on the board.
Success in the decisive match enabled Canada to earn the right of playing at the 2012 FIVB World League.
Gavin Schmitt of Canada was named the top-scorer of the match. He demonstrated a spectacular game and used great tactics to score points for Canada as he registered 14 points over two sets. On the other hand, Carlos Ortiz and Juan Figueroa of Puerto Rico
scored 10 and 8 points, respectively.
Puerto Rico played without two of its key players, the captain Hector Soto and Angel Perez. In the absence of their top guns, Carlos Ortiz and Juan Figueroa put up a good effort for Puerto Rico. However, the Canadians simply amazed their opponents with a
more convincing performance. Schmitt led the score with his deadly spikes and perfectly executed serves. Puerto Ricans couldn’t match their performance with the rivals and dropped the opening set by a 6-point margin.
The second set also went well for Canada as they put more pressure on the Puerto Ricans. The ball frequently landed on Puerto Rico’s side and helped Canada to quickly finish the second set. Fred Winters and Adam Simac of Canada gave out a great performance
and made their presence felt. Canada successfully extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set.
Canada controlled the operations in third set but Puerto Rico offered as much resistance as they could. However, the final word was given in Canada’s favour for putting up a better show of volleyball. Puerto Rico took the score to 19 but failed to stop the
opponents from achieving match points.
The skipper of Canadian team, Fred Winters of Victoria, was overjoyed with the great achievement. He said, “I’m really happy with this win. We had a big opportunity with Puerto Rico missing 2 starters, and we took advantage of it. We get another chance at
World League, which is great for us because we have a better team than we had 4 years ago. This is very exciting for us.''
Glenn Hoag, the Head Coach of Canada, called it a big step for his team. He shared his thoughts about the 2012 World League competition in the following manner: “World League means a lot of big matches, and that’s very important for our very young team.
This is a group that we started in 2007, and it’s still growing and maturing. This will be a great test for our young guys. We will need to stay healthy.” Meanwhile, he also said that they need to focus on the NORCECA Championship coming up in the next week.
In the next run, Canada and Puerto Rico, will meet in the NORCECA qualifying event for 2011 World Cup which is scheduled to take place at Japan in November. The two teams will be placed in Pool A along with teams from Mexico and St. Lucia. The FIVB Men’s
World Cup will create the chance to earn spots for the 2012 London Olympics.
Tags: