Richmond, Canada, July 22, 2017 - Kyla Richey led the way for Canada as she earned 22 points, including 17 kills, to lead the Canadians to a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21) win over Peru in the 2017 World Grand Prix.
Canada coach Marcello Abbondanza: Today was a different opponent for sure. I think Germany (who Canada lost against in the weekend-opener) is one of the best teams in this group, but I think we played with a different focus and a different energy than yesterday. I think yesterday, we were nervous. We played better, especially in blocking defence. This is what we have to do to try to stay at this level.
Canada player Kyla Richey: I’m really happy we could pull out that win. We had a bit of a slow start, but it’s really awesome that we could find our momentum and use the home crowd to our advantage. Our game plan is to shut down No. 12 (Angela Leyva) and No. 20 (Carla Rueda Cotito) because they’re huge hitters and they’ve always been like that. Peru are long-time rivals and we knew their game plan, so if we can shut down them and neutralize the others, it’s going to be easier for us.
Peru coach Luizomar De Moura: Once again we started the match in focus and in good shape. But we gave a lot of points away to the Canadians this match.
Peru captain Mirtha Uribe: We had a good start again working well along the net. The Canadians got better and better with their service and blocking game. We improved from yesterday and today they just adapted and received better.