Canada defeats
USA men in America's Cup opener
Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, August 3, 2005 - Dallas Soonias scored a
match-high 27 points to lead four players in double-figures as
Canada upset the USA Mens National Volleyball Team, 3-2, in the
opening match of the Americas Cup Wednesday night.
Soonias had 21 kills, five blocks and one service ace in the
24-26, 25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13 victory for Canada, which
posted its first win over the United States since July 2, 2002 .
Murray Grapentine scored 19 points, Fred Winters added 14 points
and Steve Brinkman posted 12 points for the Canadians, who
outblocked the Americans, 19-6.
Dave McKienzie scored 24 points on 23 kills and one block to
lead the United States, which dropped to 9-5 overall this season.
Pieter Olree added 11 points on 10 kills and one ace, while
David Lee, Jim Polster and Riley Salmon chipped in with eight
points apiece.
Meanwhile, in Group A, Brazil defeated Argentina, 3-0 (25-21,
25-23, 25-19).
Team USA will play Cuba on Thursday, Aug. 4 and have a day of
rest of Friday, Aug. 5, as Canada and Cuba square off against
each other to close out group play.
Canada played a nice match, said USA head coach Hugh McCutcheon
( Christchurch, New Zealand ). They were the better team tonight.
We had a tough time getting the right combination of guys to
play for us. Hopefully we will be better tomorrow against Cuba .
The tournament field consists of six teams broken up into two
groups of three teams each. Group A consists of Argentina, 2004
Olympic gold medalist Brazil and Venezuela. Group B features
Canada, Cuba and the United States.
The top two teams in each group following the conclusion of
preliminary play on Friday, Aug. 5 will meet in the tournament
semifinals on Saturday, Aug. 6. The third-place and championship
matches are scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 7. |
