Canada advanced to the men’s Pan American Cup semifinal after defeating the Dominican Republic 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 25-21, 25-23) on Friday.
In front of the home crowd in Gatineau, Que., Canada started out well and built a narrow lead over their Caribbean opponents 16-14. Dominican Republic managed to tie at 18, but Brandon Koppers and captain Max Burt were two towers blocking their rivals. Setter Byron Keturakis made a difference from the service line as Canada took the opening set 25-20.
The Dominicans bounced back early in the second period, taking advantage of their rivals’ hitting and serving errors with a 25-16 win.
But Canada regrouped and shut the Dominican Republic out the rest of the way, using an aggressive and efficient third set to take the lead, and a shaky but acceptable fourth set to close out the match.
Canada advances to Pan Am Cup semifinals0:30
“We came out really good in the first set, we put a lot of service pressure on them, but we let them back in the second and they get a lot of confidence when you start giving them free points like that. They’re scrappy and they have got a lot of physicality,” said Burt. “We were able to settle it down in the third set and take control of the match again, which is really nice.”
Canada, who won bronze at last year’s event, will play either Argentina in the semifinals on Saturday, a game that can be seen live on cbcsports.ca.
“It’s a developmental team, and what happened in the second set is part of these young guys trying to be international players and fortunately they found their good game again and I’m pleased for them,” said head coach Larry McKay.
