Argentina beats Puerto Rico by 3-1: FIVB Volleyball Men´s Junior World Championship
The FIVB Volleyball Men´s Junior World Championship started on the 1st of August in Brazil as Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi play host. One of the the first matches that was played in Niteroi took place between Argentina and Puerto Rico at the Caio Martins gymnasium. Four sets later, Argentina was celebrating a win by 3-1
Puerto Rico provided a good challenge to the Argentinean team in the opening set and was able to bag it in the end. However, Argentina came to life after losing the initial set and won each of the next three sets by a significant margin. The final set scores at the end of the match stood at the following figures: 23-25, 25-17, 25-19 and 25-17.
The Argentinean coach expressed himself in the following words at the press conference after his team had won the match: "On the first match of a competition, the teams are always more nervous. But we managed to control the game and won.”
On the other hand, Carlos Rodrigues, the Puerto Rican coach, gave the following statements at the outcome of the game: "The team had some problems in the reception, but we had a good first set. The first game is always difficult, and both teams had a good high level. We will now dedicate 200% for this competition.”
The start of the first set of the game saw Argentina take the lead but the Puerto Ricans were quick to snatch it out of their hands and get the advantage for themselves at 5-4. As the game reached its final stages, the Argentineans were at the top at 23-22 but the Puerto Ricans put on a good show to grab the opening set of the match at 25-23.
The second set of the game showed a completely different picture from the first as the Puerto Rican team could not keep their act together and fell to committing errors that shifted the momentum towards the Argentinean side. As a result, it was not a difficult job for the Argentinean players to secure the second set of the game at 25-17.
The third set saw the Argentineans take the lead and keep the advantage with them till they had bagged the set at 25-19. The fourth set did not see the Puerto Ricans challenge their opponents significantly and Argentina sealed another comfortable win at 25-17.
Despite the fact that they lost the match, the Puerto Rican Steven Morales was able to tally the highest number of points among both teams by scoring 19. On the Argentinean side, Ivan Castellani was able to score the highest number of points at 16.
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