Puerto Rico loses another chance to break the ice – 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship
Puerto Rico dropped another chance to see the face of victory at the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship.
Last week, they finished the first round of the tournament with a disappointing score of 0-3 in Pool C but hoped for better results in the next round. However, the rolling stone gathered no moss and Puerto Rico received another blow from Mexico in the opening
match of second round. Mexican girls claimed wonderful straight set win over Puerto Rico on Tuesday, August 16.
They posted 25-21, 25-23, and 25-22 in a row and added another defeat to Puerto Rico’s tally. The Ankara Sports Hall in Turkey hosted the match. Mexico and Puerto Rico are labelled as Pool H teams in the second round.
Key Players
Samantha Bricio and Alejandra Isiordia and the Setter Alicia Castro were the key players in Mexican team-line. Bricio displayed great attacking power and registered 11 points for her team. Likewise, her teammate Isiordia was credited for match-high 13 points.
The talented setter of Mexico was equally active in her athletic shoes. She dominated the net action and created good opportunities for spikers to hit unstoppable spike. Moreover, she contributed two points on serves. The captain Daly Santana was the only
player in Puerto Rican squad who went to double figures as she added 11 points.
Match outline
Mexico jumped to a lead of 2 points at first technical timeout (8-6). Puerto Ricans took just one step ahead and moved 7, while Mexico added 4 points to make it 12-7. Samantha Bricio of Mexico engaged the opponents in tricky cut shots and took the score
to 16-7. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico struggled with some counter attacks and raised the score. Nonetheless, Mexican kept the operations of the game well under their hand and claimed first set by polling 25-21 on board.
Second set saw sharp attacks and tough rallies. Puerto Rico threw everything in attack and picked up lead of 11-7. In response, Mexico attacked with Bricio and managed to break the tempo of Puerto Ricans. Mexico went up at 14-13 but Puerto Rico made come
back with 16-15 in the next few moments. Tussle continued and both sides tried to touch the finish line in first place. Anyhow, Mexico proved to be better team and extended its lead to 2-0 by winning second set with 25-23.
Despite of great effort in second set, Puerto Rico couldn’t achieve the desired result. It made them quite despondent about the whole situation. Besides, they looked visibly exhausted in third set. Mexico took continued with success and closed off third
set by three points (25-22). Mexico won the match and collected its second win of the match, while Puerto Rico constantly remained in the cold waters.
The Head Coach of Puerto Rican Team Gonzalez Eric congratulated Mexico for winning the match. Speaking of his own team’s failure, he commented: "Our receptions were good but we didn't concentrate on the match. Mexico was good at the counter attacks and receptions.
We came from very strong pool where we played with Serbia, USA and China, so the players were exhausted." According to the captain girl Daly Santana, her team gave out the expected performance but still it was not enough to lead them to success.
Garcia Victor, the coach of winning team expressed delight about the match result. He thanked Puerto Rican team for their courtesies. He said, “It was a good match; the best playing team won the match. Puerto Rico played a nice game, we did not start very
well but we tried to do the best. We need to finish in the ninth to twelve positions.”
Tags: