Canadian Men Win Bronze in Bolivar Cup
Team Canada Men were downed 3-0 by the CIMED Esporte Club of Brazil in their debut match at the 2008 Bolivar Cup in Buenos Aires. Nicholas Cundy (Edmonton, AB) led the offensive effort for the Canadians, finishing with 12 tallies. Set scores were 25-19, 25-15 and 25-19 in favour of CIMED.
“For many of our guys here this is their first time on the road and to face players of this calibre in a professional environment,” stated FTC Canucks head coach Chris Green. “The CIMED team is a very experienced, explosive team that mixes many of Brazils older players with a blend of younger athletes.”
The Canadian Men earned their first victory on Thursday night, defeating UC Irvine (USA) 3-0 (28-26, 25-22 and 25-21).
The FTC Canucks finished the preliminary round of the Bolivar Cup with a 1-2 record and faced off against UC Irvine once again on Saturday afternoon in the Bronze Medal Match. The Canadian team beat the USA team 3-1 (25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 25-20).
The Bolivar Cup took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina from September 2 – 6 and participating teams included Bolivar (host team), CIMED from Brazil (including setter Bruno Rezende – winner of the Silver Medal with Brazil at the Olympic Games), the FTC Canucks (Canada) and UC Irvine from the United States (coached by John Speraw, Assistant Coach of the USA National Men’s Team – Olympic Gold Medal winner).
The competition is held four days prior to the World Challenge Club Volleyball Cup that will be held in Rosario and Santa Fe, Argentina, September 9 – 14. The World Challenge Cup will include the four teams participating at the Bolivar Cup in addition to Chubut Volley (Argentina), Unicaja Almeria (Spain), and Tigre Unisul and SADA Betim from Brazil.
source: VC
