US win bronze at U-19 Continental Championship – Volleyball news
The bronze medal match of the NORCECA U-19 Continental Championship took place between the US and Puerto Rico on Saturday, July 7, 2012. The matches of the tournament were being staged in Tijuana in Mexico where the Centro de Alto Rendimiento sports hall
acted as the host to the match that went on till five sets. However, it was the US squad that was able to secure the third place in the tournament in front of an audience of 400 spectators.
The US took two hours and 12 minutes to earn the win at the following final set scores: 22-25, 25-19, 25-11, 26-28, 15-7. The win has also given US entrance into the FIVB Boys’ Youth World Championship that will take place next year.
The coach of the American team, Daniel Friend, shared his views on getting the bronze medal in the following words, “Puerto Rico improved tremendously. I really hope they can come to the World Championship. Our goal was to come here and to qualify to the
world championship. We have just been practicing for 10 to 11 days and the boys got better every day.”
On the other hand, the Puerto Rican coach Carlos Rodriguez, expressed himself at the outcome of the match by making the following comments, “I think we played at one hundred percent, we gave our best. Unfortunately we found our good game level too late.
We could work hard for two sets, but the tactical service and block game affected us.”
The highest number of points in the match was scored by the American player Earl Schultz who tallied a score of 16. Schultz was helped by his team mates Connor Lammey and Kupono Fey each of whom tallied 15 points. On the other hand, the most points scored
by a single player on the Puerto Rican side were also 15 by Juan Ruiz Goyco.
The first set of the match started with the lead going to the Puerto Ricans and they were also able to stretch it further. However, the US was able to make the score level eventually and get the advantage for some time. The Puerto Ricans did not let go of
the chase and had the lead again which they were able to take till the end of the set at 25-22.
The US stepped up their effort in the second set and took an early lead to speed off with the advantage. The Puerto Ricans kept trailing behind as US managed to make the match reach a tie by securing the second set 25-19.
The US went on to smother the Puerto Ricans in the third set as they took an easy win at 25-11 but the Puerto Ricans rebounded by bagging the fourth set at 28-26. However, it was the US squad that was able to get hold of the fifth set at 15-7.
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