Aug. 01: Canada earned a spot in the final of the NORCECA U23 Women’s Pan American Cup in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, after a win last night.

Despite a strong start, defending champions Cuba could not maintain its momentum, allowing Canada to complete a reverse sweep 2-3 (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 22-25, 9-15).

"Cuba came out playing well at the beginning of the game, they were passing extremely well and playing aggressive volleyball. I thought we came out a little tentative – from the service line and from the attack line," explained Canada’s head coach Matt Kreuger.

"After two sets, we talked about how we needed to be more aggressive. In the third set, Taylor de Boer came in and was a difference maker, the spark plug. Then the whole team played more aggressively. Once we started being more aggressive from the service line, that really helped our block settle in…  we had the opportunity to slow down the very physical Cuban attackers."

Canada led in attack points (60-52), blocks (16-10), and had the only ace in the match. Cuba made fewer errors (31-38).

Canada’s de Boer (Kelowna, BC) was the match top scorer with 18 (16 kills, 1 block and 1 ace), followed by Madyson Saris (Burlington, ON) with 15 points.

In the other semi, USA defeated Mexico, also in five sets, last night. The final is today (Aug. 01) at 4 pm local time (CST).

The Canadian team is looking forward to the challenge. Matt Krueger said: “It’s a fun environment with the fans here in Mexico, and we’re looking forward to our match against USA in the final. Our goal is to leave it all out there!”

Streaming can be found on Facebook. 

Info: www.norceca.net

Volleyball Canada Media Contact:
Jackie Skender
jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676