Toronto, Canada. June 27, 2024: In the first five-set match of the tournament, Canada managed to close the tie-break and now advances directly to the semifinals of the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship in Toronto, Ontario.
The score was Canada 3 Mexico 2 (25-21, 27-25, 15-25, 24-26, 15-10).
Canada led the attack 57-48 and won more blocking points 14-10, but Mexico had 12 aces, compared with Canada’s four. Canada also made more errors (37-31).
Ella Piskorz scored 17 points (including five blocks and two aces) for Canada as that team’s lead scorer, which was equaled by Mexico’s Isabella Ocampo, who had 17 points for her team.
Canadian player Veronica Dickson, who scored 13 points in this match, said: “There was definitely some adversity to overcome in the last couple sets but I believe in each and every single one of our team. I knew we could do it and we get a day off tomorrow so it’s nice to get some rest and be ready for the semifinals.”
Canada’s head coach Olivier Faucher was happy with his team’s performance: “It’s good to have this experience. After two sets, it was a hard battle and we were on top, but then Mexico started to play a lot better. A match like this is an opportunity for us to learn and battle to that fifth set. A 3-0 would have been nice to get more rest. But with this win, we get the day off tomorrow. The important thing is that we got the win, and we will learn from this. There are two big matches coming up and so it was important for us to face this challenge.”
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