Puerto Rico defeats Mexico in a XVI Pan American Games: Volleyball news
The XVI Pan American Games Volleyball matches are currently under way in Guadalajara, Mexico as Puerto Rico and Mexico women’s national volleyball teams met on court this Wednesday, October 19. Five sets were needed to decided the winner as the Puerto Ricans
found themselves on the winning end of the game.
The first set started off with both the teams almost level with each other but eventually the home team of Mexico was able to gain momentum and swing the opening frame in their favour. However, the Puerto Ricans responded by smothering their opponents in
the second frame and equalised the match. The Mexicans came out strong in the third set and put on an impressive display of volleyball skills that enabled them to make a quick job of the third set. The Puerto Ricans did not take defeat lightly and delivered
an almost equal loss to their opponents in the fourth set. The fifth and the final set however was bagged by the Puerto Ricans and they sealed the deal on the game at the following final set scores: 20-25, 25-14, 9-25, 25-10 and 15-9.
The coach of the Puerto Rican team, David Alemán, made the following comments at the press conference after the match had reached its close: “I think the final factor of the fifth set was because of the experience and the energy, and so we could make it.
I don´t think this was a good match for any of us, but Mexico had a very good offensive service that affected our reception, more difficult than in the previous matches.”
On the other hand, the coach of the Mexican team Mario Herrera, expressed himself in the following manner: “This was an ups and downs match. On the side of Puerto Rico, they looked so tired because they had played other five sets before this match and on
the side of Mexico, it was a question of immaturity to solve the situation and win the sets properly.”
The player that was able to post the highest number of points among both the teams was the Mexican Andrea Rangel who tallied 18 points in all. Rangel was helped by her teammate Samantha Bricio who posted a total of 11 points and kept the pressure on her
opponents. On the other hand, the top scorer from the Puerto Rico squad was Aury Cruz who made her presence felt by putting up a total of 11 points.
The Puerto Ricans will now be playing for the fifth position in the tournament and the team that they will be competing against is Peru.
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