Puerto Rican national men’s volleyball team sweeps Canada in Pan American Games
The Puerto Rican national men’s volleyball team was able to get itself into the quarter-finals of the Pan American Games after they earned a win on Wednesday, October 26th. Guadalajara, Mexico set the stage for the important battle between Puerto
Rico and Canada.
The clash between the two sides did not take long to reach its close as the Puerto Ricans were able to cut the story short by making a clean sweep over the Canadians. Despite the fact that Canada lost the match in three straight sets, they did show signs
of aggression that were impressive and made the match interesting. By the time that the day was out, the Puerto Ricans had won the three consecutive sets at the following points: 25-22, 25-17 and 25-23.
The first set of the match started off with both teams almost level with each other. The lead changes between the two sides were frequent and no team was too far ahead of the other one. However, as the frame drew to its final stages, the Puerto Ricans were
able to put on a burst of speed that got them the opening set at 25-22.
The loss of the first set did not not sit well with the Canadians and they experienced a lack of motivation that was apparent in their decreased level of input in the second set. As a result, the Puerto Ricans were able to have a relatively easy time in
getting the lead and sticking with it to the end of the frame. The loss of the first two sets got the Canadians into action at the start of the third one and they managed to put up a valiant fight. However, it was the Puerto Rican squad that finally got to
the winning end by bagging the final set at 25-23.
The coach of the Puerto Rican team, Carlos Cardona, expressed himself in the following manner at the press conference that was conducted after the match reached its close: “Physically they (Canada) were not in the best condition after playing a marathon
match the night before. The high altitude of Guadalajara didn’t help either. We were very well prepared for this match and we knew that the third one would be important for the next round.”
On the other hand, the Canadian coach, Vincent Pichette, shared his views in the following way: “We were not able to stop (Roberto) Muñiz down the middle and Victor (Rivera) played a great match. They put a lot of pressure on our pass with their serves.”
The player that was able to tally the highest number of points was Canada’s Spencer Leiske with a total of 14 points.
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