Team Venezuela crowned as gold-medallist at the U-21 Men’s Pan Am Cup
Venezuela Men’s Youth National Volleyball Team edged out Canada in final match of U-21 Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup on Monday, June 27. They settled for gold-ware by sending 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-19, and 25-23) on board.
The influential match was held at fully packed-up Roberto Duran Arena in Panama City. The thrilling action of best youth volleyball teams of the NORCECA (North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Federation) came to end on Monday and participants
of the campaign settled down in their respective positions. The final standings of the U-21 Men’s Pan Am Cup are as followed:
Venezuela – Gold medal Canada – Silver medal Chile – Bronze medal Puerto Rico Mexico Dominican Republic Panama Honduras
Match overview
In the final showdown of the U-21 Men’s Pan American Cup, two sides of the court were captured by teams from Venezuela and Canada. Venezuela was generally believed to be better side. Since the start of this campaign on June 22, Venezuela didn’t drop any
match. They maintained a wonderful record of 4-wins and clawed their way to the final match. On the other hand, Canada suffered the loss of two matches. In the semi-final, Canada upset the stronger team of Chile and earned the ticket to finals.
The opening set of the match was a tight affair as both sides actively participated in attack. Team Venezuela scored the early points and tried to put pressure on Canadian side. However, Canadian team was also prepared for a tough match. They were uniquely
positioned on their side and received the ball with firm hands. Meanwhile, the attack attempts of Canadian spikers proved to be a great help and they remained hand in hand with Venezuela. The score soared up with a narrow gap of points. Luckily Venezuela got
a kill near the set points and secured first set with a margin of two points (25-23).
The raged-up Canadian team hit back strongly in the second set. They brought more ferocity in attack and picked up lead over Venezuela at first technical timeout. Furthermore, Canadian side continued with same passion and didn’t allow opponents to come up.
Second set inched its way to the end and Canada tied the score by winning second set with 9-point lead (25-16).
Canada’s success in the second set created an interesting twist in the match. As a result, third set was totally heated with strong attack and solid defence from both teams. Nonetheless, Venezuela proved to be better side and captured third set. Canada struggled
to make another tie of scores in fourth set but couldn’t achieve desired results. Venezuela pulled off success in fourth set by playing better and announced gold-medal victory over Canada.
Top-scorer
Jhoser Contreras of Venezuelan side was named the top scorer of the match. He performed amazingly well and registered 21 points. His teammate Kelvin Pinerua followed him with 18 points. Third place was given to Nicholas Hoag of Canada, who worked out some
nice shots and contributed 17 points in his team’s score. Bradley Kufske provided another 13 points to Team Canada, while Daniel Moreau did the same.
Post-match
The head coach of Venezuela, Gilberto Herrera was simply overjoyed with the sense of amazing victory over Canada. He shared his thoughts after the match.
He stated, “It was a very difficult match and not the regular 3-1 victory as the Canadians adjusted their defense and made it hard for us. I think our determination to win was the difference.”
On the other hand, Canadian team captain Georges Laplante said that his side got a very little time to prepare for the Pan American Cup but still they made it to the finals. He praised the combined effort of whole team.
He said, “I am very proud of my boys who made a great effort and showed what they are capable even though we didn’t have enough time to prepare for this tournament.”
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