Puerto Rico defeats Trinidad and Tobago by 3-0 in the Boys’ Youth Pan American Cup quarter-final
The Boys’ Youth Under-19 Pan American Cup is currently underway in Mexicali, Mexico. In the quarter-final round, the Puerto Rican squad was able to hand out a defeat to Trinidad and Tobago by making a clean sweep. Not only did the Puerto Ricans win by bagging
three back to back sets, they were able to win each one of them by comfortable margins at 25-17, 25-14 and 25-18.
By winning the match, the Puerto Ricans have earned themselves a ticket in to the semi-final round of the tournament. The Puerto Ricans will moving on with a record tallying a total of one win after suffering one loss. The team that Puerto Rico is scheduled
to compete with in the semi-final round is Mexico, that supports a better statistics as it has earned itself two wins while losing no match at all.
Ramon Lawrence, the coach of the Puerto Rican squad, made the following comments regarding the semi-final match against Mexico: “We have played previously, last year at the Norceca championship. We won the medal and the pass to the World Championship, but
it will be different this time and have to do the right things.”
The first set of the match saw the Puerto Ricans come out strong while Trinidad and Tobago took time in adjusting. For most part of the opening set, the lead stayed with Puerto Rico while Trinidad and Tobago was playing catch up. As a result, Puerto Rico
was able to bag the first set with relative ease at 25-17. Having lost the initial set of the game, Trinidad and Tobago could not manage to wriggle a win out of the second set either and lost it by 14-25. Similarly, the third set of the match went out of hands
of Trinidad and Tobago at 25-18.
Both the attack and the defense of the Puerto Rican side was unparalleled by Trinidad and Tobago all through the match. The victory that the Puerto Ricans were able to manage was a result of team effort. However, there were some players that stood out from
the rest of the squad. Edgardo Cartagena and Carlos Acosta played an important role for their team. Cartagena and Acosta both were able to score 10 points each for their side and became the leading scorers. However, Brandon Legall, the Trinidadian team member
was also able to tally an equal number of points as the top Puerto Rican scorers.
Carlos Acosta, the Puerto Rican player made the following statement about the match against Trinidad and Tobago: “This was an interesting match for us that are trying to improve and work a little bit more as a joint team before the World Championship.”
Tags: