XI Women’s Pan American Volleyball Cup - Argentina finishes fifth – Volleyball News
In the fifth position match of the XI Women’s Pan American Cup this past Friday, Argentina outclassed Puerto Rico.
Under the command of Head Coach Horacio Bastit, the Argentinean ladies exhibited a wonderful performance and won the classification match in straight sets, 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-17). Success enabled Argentina to get hold of the fifth slot on ranking chart,
while Puerto Rico had to be content with sixth position in the tournament.
Argentina’s Lucia Fresco added 18 spikes on 36 attack attempts and had two aces in the match. She totalled match-high 20 points and led her team to success. The skipper Emilce Sosa also went into double-figure score with 13 points. On Puerto Rican side,
Stephanie Enright and Daly Santana registered 10 points each.
Argentina picked up an early lead in the opening frame and pushed the rivals behind. The combination of Sosa and Fresco proved beneficial for Argentina as both players hit with power and raised their team’s score by leaps and bounds. Puerto Rico kept in
chase and came from different angles to catch up with Argentina. The game of hit ‘n’ run continued for about 27 minutes and eventually Argentina smashed Puerto Rico with five-point win.
Second set of the match was exactly the same. Puerto Rico made frequent attempts to come up on the scoreboard, but faced utmost resistance from Argentina. The charged-up Argentineans remained remarkably consistent and breezed past the competitors in the
second set. They finished set-2 with identical score of 25-20 and moved to 2-0 in the match.
In the third set, Puerto Rico played under pressure and ended with only 17 points. Argentina, on the other hand, hit the mark and achieved match-point to close the affair.
“Argentina had a good service and we failed in our reception against them. I am happy because Puerto Rico qualified to the World Grand Prix, but sad at the same time for the loss. This was my last match with the national team, in the Superior League and
also the last one in volleyball,” Del Valle said.
Furthermore, the Puerto Rican captain announced her retirement from the international volleyball.
“Argentina played a great match. Service was the key, they took also the lead attacking and we were neutralized. On the other side, we are in the Grand Prix with a young team and that’s important for our program,” Puerto Rican coach David Aleman pointed
out.
Meanwhile, the Argentinean Coach Horacio Bastit and Captain Emilce Sosa expressed delight and satisfaction about victory.
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