Saturday, June 18
7th: Argentina 3 Dominican Republic 1 (25-21, 25-21, 22-25, 25-15)
5th: Mexico 3 Venezuela 0 (default, 25-0, 25-0, 25-0)
Bronze: Canada 3 Puerto Rico 0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-21)
Gold: Brazil 3 U.S. 1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 28-26)
by Louis Daignault
GATINEAU, QUE - Canada returned to the medal podium at the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball tournament on Saturday with a decisive 25-14, 25-20, 25-21 victory over a young but very talented squad from Puerto Rico.
Gavin Schmitt of Saskatoon led the Canadian attack with 14 points while team captain Fred Winters of Victoria added 12 and Gord Perrin of Creston, B.C., nine. The Canadians finished with a 4-1 record, with two of those wins against Puerto Rico. They went 2-0 in the round robin, defeated Mexico in the quarter-final and lost to powerhouse Brazil in the semis on Friday night.
‘’We are happy with the win tonight but we still have a lot of things to work on,’’ said Canada’s head coach Glenn Hoag. ‘’This tournament for us will be a good reference point on what we need to work on and it was also a great chance to evaluate the players.’’
Winters said the Canadian squad was hoping to be in the championship match at the week-long tournament.
‘’It’s nice to finish with a win, especially that we are now headed into two weeks of training,’’ he said. ‘’It was probably our best executed match of the tournament. But it’s early in the season and I done this enough times to know it’s a long process to get the chemistry back.
‘’We hadn’t played together for eight months before this tournament.’’
Brazil defeated the U.S. 3-1 to win the gold medal later on Saturday night. The rest of the standings are Mexico fifth, Venezuela sixth, Argentina seventh, Dominican Republic eighth, Bahamas ninth and Panama 10th.
Canada was fourth last year, silver medallists in 2009 and 2008 and bronze medallists in the inaugural Pan Am Cup in 2006.
Volleyball.ca
Canadian Roster
Nicholas Cundy, Edmonton
Dan Lewis, Oakville, Ont.
Brock Davidiuk, Edmonton
Justin Duff, Winnipeg
Joel Schmuland, Edmonton
Steve Brinkman, Bowmanville, Ont.
Gavin Schmitt, Saskatoon
Olivier Faucher, Quebec City
Adam Kaminski, Chatham, Ont.|
Fred Winters, Victoria
Steve Gotch, Okotoks, Alta.
Gord Perrin, Creston, B.C.
Head coach: Glenn Hoag, Gatineau, Que.
Assistant coach: Vincent Pichette, Gatineau
Monday, June 13
Canada def. Puerto Rico 25-17, 25-17, 25-17
USA def. Bahamas 25-14, 25-12, 25-12
Argentina def. Panama 25-16, 25-23, 25-21
Brazil def. Mexico 25-22, 25-20, 25-15
Tuesday, June 14
Argentina def. Bahamas 25-20, 25-16, 25-9
USA def. Panama 25-14, 25-14, 25-11
Mexico def. Venezuela 25-16, 23-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-13
Puerto Rico def. Dominican Republic 25-27, 25-23, 28-26, 25-17
Wednesday, June 15
1:00pm Panama def. Bahamas 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18
3:00pm Brazil def. Venezuela 25-23, 25-14, 25-11
6:00pm USA def. Argentina 25-15, 25-21, 25-19
8:00pm Canada def. Dominican Republic 25-18, 25-23, 25-14
Thursday, June 16
Championship Quarter Final : Canada 3 Mexico 1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-1)
Championship QF: Puerto Rico3 Argentina 1 (25-20, 25-17, 20-25, 27-25)
Consolation QF: Venezuela 3 Panama 1 (25-20, 25-13, 25-15)
Consolation QF: Dominican Republic 3 Bahamas 2 (25-20, 25-14, 22-25, 23-25, 15-12)
Friday, June 17
9th - Bahamas 3 Panama 1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-18)
consolation semifinal – Venezuela 3 Argentina 1 (25-11, 26-24, 16-25, 27-25)
consolation semifinal – Mexico 3 Dominican Republic 0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23)
championship semifinal – U.S. 3 Puerto Rico 0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-14)
championship semifinal – Brazil 3 Canada 0 (25-20, 29-27, 25-16)
About Canada West Universities Athletic Association
Canada West is consistently the most decorated of the four conferences in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), winning at least 10 CIS national titles every year, 1997 to 2010. Comprised of 14 schools (15 on Sept. 1, 2011), from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada West produces numerous major award winners and Academic All-Canadian student-athletes each year, with many going on to athletic success around the globe in pro leagues or events such as the Olympics, Paralympics or Universiade Games. “cwuaa” on Twitter.
A proud member of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).