2011 WL Qualification Clash: Puerto Rico defeats China
The battle for berths at the 2011 FIVB World League brought six teams together. These included China, Portugal, Tunisia, Puerto Rico, Japan and South Korea. The qualification tournament started off on 6th August and completed its first round on 18th August. Puerto Rico and Japan finished the first round as winners and headed into the second round. Puerto Rico played two matches against Portugal and remained unbeaten at their home city of San Juan.
The tournament’s second round commenced on 24th August in which Japan and South Korea played two matches during the first leg. Likewise, Puerto Rico clashed with China in the second spell. Both the matches were held in Puerto Rican City of Arecibo. Puerto Rico exhibited an impressive play and pulled off victory against China.
First match – 28th August
Both teams entered the first set with temperate attacks from each other. Chinese team delivered speedy shots which earned them early points to build a lead. China finished the first set with a margin of 3 points and posted 25-22. Somehow, the host team returned in the game with strong attack. Puerto Rico’s setter provided the spikers with perfect time to hit the ball at the right spots. Puerto Rico maintained their lead during the second set and finished it at 25-21. They stayed put on the same winning course and achieved success in the final two sets by sending 25-21 and 25-23 respectively. The collective effort of the team earned them fabulous victory in the first match.
Second match – 29th August
In the second match, Puerto Rico kicked off the game with great temperament. They played with more consistency in serves and ball handling. It took them little time to dominate the rival side; the spikers did a great job at scoring points. Hector Soto and Victor Rivera totally crashed the Chinese defense. They formed good timing and attained rhythm.
The second set started with a moderate tone and both teams committed frequent serving errors. But Puerto Rico managed to control the foul shots and took 8-7 lead over China. The Puerto Rican lead was maintained at the end of first technical time out and they controlled the set with perfect serves and good blocking at the net. In the meantime, China also resisted and killed a few spikes. Chinese spikers Zhong Weijun and Chen Ping created great difficulty for Puerto Rico as they hit long under-hand shots. China surpassed the host side after the second TTO and pulled the score to 24-21. Unfortunately, they couldn’t bar Puerto Rico to win the second set at 30-28.
Puerto Rico’s coach Carlos Cardona made a few changes for the third set. China took advantage of the situation and jumped back in the game. They quickly got lead in the third set and extended the points’ gap. China maintained the lead with fair margin of points and won the third set after a close fight.
Puerto Rico learned from their blunders during the third set and came up with a different game in the 4th set. They regained commanding position and paved their way to the final victory. The spiker Soto added 18 valuable points to the team’s score.
With this win, Puerto Rico have qualified for the 2011 World League tournament first time in their history. In the past, Portugal had defeated them in 2008 Beijing Olympics qualification tournament and blew away their chances to play in the main tournament. But this time around, Puerto Rico achieved their mark and validated their appearance in the 2011 World League Tournament.
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