Puerto Rico defeats Trinidad (&) Tobago in the Classification Round of Pan Am Cup – Volleyball News
Puerto Rico women’s volleyball team exhibited a stellar performance in the first match of classification round of the XI Pan American Cup on Wednesday and held off Trinidad & Tobago for 3-1 (25-27, 25-11, 25-19, 25-17) victory.
Success of Puerto Rico was mainly credited to Jetzabel del Valle, who contributed match-high 23 points. She added 18 spikes and four blocks in the match. Furthermore, Yarimar Rosa, Amanda Vazquez, and Stephanie Enright also played a vital role in team’s victory. They added 15, 14, and 13 points, respectively.
Trinidad & Tobago was supported by Channon Thompson and Captain Krystle Esdelle. They added 16 and 13 points in the loss.
In the opening set of the match, Trinidad & Tobago players took full advantage of their better physique and height. They came up with strong offence and earned good points. In the meanwhile, Puerto Rico stroke back and tried to stop the opponents. Nevertheless, Trinidadians took away the first set with two points.
Following the loss of set-1, Puerto Ricans hit back angrily and devastated the defence line of T&T. The heavy onslaught of volleys enabled Puerto Rico to close the second set at 25-11. Thereafter, the charged-up Puerto Ricans continued with success and cruised past to victory by winning next two sets in a row.
Trinidad and Tobago dropped the decision, but the Head Coach Francisco Cruz seemed satisfied with the overall progress of his team. He was glad to see the level of improvement and shared his thoughts in the following manner: “I am satisfied how the team developed the tournament. The girls had a chance to achieve more experience against a team like Puerto Rico with a very stabilized game. This has helped us a lot.”
David Aleman, the Puerto Rican coach, seemed delighted with this victory. He commented: “Trinidad & Tobago is a team that has advanced a lot and it is very strong. We tried to take out their force with our service and girls’ reaction was a key for the win.”
The captain of victorious team Jetzabel del Valle said that the Trinidad &Tobago players created a lot of trouble for her team with their high jumps in the first set. However, precision and accuracy in serves helped Puerto Rico to overcome the opposite side.
Following the success against Trinidad & Tobago, the Puerto Rican ladies will return to action in the next fixture of the classification round on Thursday. They will meet Peru in the upcoming crucial match, which is scheduled to take place at the Gimnasio UACJ in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
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