Tunisia beats Puerto Rico 3-2 in final round: FIVB Men´s Junior World Championship
The final round of the FIVB Volleyball Men´s Junior World Championship is underway in Brazil as an intense match took place between Tunisia and Puerto Rico at the Caio Martins gymnasium, Niteroi on 8th August. The contest between the two teams
was to determine the 13-16 classification and Tunisiacame out on top after beating Puerto Rico 3-2.
The first set of the match was highly competitive as both teams battled on until the very end. However, Puerto Rico managed to better their rivals by securing the opening set of the game. The Tunisians stepped up their play in the second set and took the
Puerto Ricans down with the third set. Starting the fourth set with a two set deficit, the Puerto Ricans fought hard to take the match to a decisive fifth one, which they successfully accomplished. The final set of the match started tight but eventually gave
way to the Tunisians who won the match at the following final set scores: 27-29, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25 and 15-12.
The Tunisian head coach, Mohamed Mounir, made the following comments at the end of the match: “The two teams play at the same level. Last time they won. This time we won. I changed some player positions today, and that helped."
On the other hand, the Puerto Rican coach, Carlos Rodriguez, expressed himself in the following manner at the press conference after the match: “We had a better game than I expected because we did not have Archilla. We could keep the level during the match,
but Tunisia got better. The match should be about the players and not the referees. It was still a great match even with all those shortcomings."
The first technical time out of the first set came at a Tunisian lead at 8-5 but the Puerto Ricans managed to lure the advantage towards them at the second technical time out at 16-13. The set reached a tie at 20-20 and eventually ended in favour of the
Puerto Ricans at 29-27.
The confidence generated from winning the first set of the game enabled the Puerto Ricans to take the lead early on in the second set at 8-6 but the Tunisians did not let them get too far and took the advantage at 12-8. Determined to play even, the Puerto
Ricans tied the match at 13-13. In the later stages, the Tunisians found themselves at set point at 24-19 that eventually got translated into a win at 25-21.
The Tunisian took the third set at the same score of 25-21 but the Puerto Ricans prevailed in bagging the fourth set after a fiery competition. The fifth set reached a tie at 11-11 but it was the Tunisian side that bettered their rivals and secured the set
at 15-12.
Next in line for the Tunisian side is a match with the winner of the Bulgaria/Egypt contest. The match between Tunisia and the winner will decide the 13th position holder in the tournament.
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