Angela Leyva leads Peru to beat Mexico in thrilling five-setter

ICA, Peru, September 8, 2014. -  Captain Angela Leyva led Peru to beat Mexico in five thrilling sets 22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 18-16 at the II Women’s U-23 Pan-American Cup Jose Oliva Razzeto Coliseum in the City of Ica.

It was an exciting duel where Angela Leyva registered a math-high of 26 points to keep Peru unbeaten in Pool A as Mexico pushed strong to recover from yesterday’s loss to Argentina. The home girls didn’t give up easily as Mexico subdued their efforts blocking them from start to finish.

Peru topped Mexico in kills with 62-52 advantage, while Mexico surpassed in the blocking (19-10) and service categories (7-5). There was little difference in unforced errors, with Peru committing a total of 34 and Mexico36.

Joining Leyva for the winners was opposite player Maguilaura Frias and middle blocker Andrea Urrutia with 18 and 13 points respectively. Also with double-figures, outside hitter Lisbeth Sainz led Mexico’s scorers with 20 points, middle blocker Jocelyn Urias with 18, opposite player Andrea Rangel with 13 and middle blocker Patricia Valle with 10.

Angela Leyva was called for the anti-doping test, so Maguilaura Frias, the second top scorer for Peru expressed “it was a well disputed match, we had difficulties in our blocking and failed serves, but our team effort helped us thru. Our goal is to qualify; and we are confident that tomorrow against Argentina we will show all our hard work”.

Mexican captain Andrea Rangel said “we committed too many mistakes, we had the opportunity to win the fourth set but we got desperate and we couldn’t counterattack. Now we must continue practicing to win tomorrow”.

Coach Natalia Malaga of Peru said “the match was very even, with errors from both teams, we lost many points to serves and Mexico new how to benefit from our weak blocking. What we need is to learn, continue to improve and thing about the matches ahead”.

Jorge Miguel Azair, Mexico’s head coach stated “we had many errors, but comparing yesterday’s match against Argentina we improved immensely, we need to work hard mentally and be more controlled to finish winning sets and counterattack. But we have a chance to continue in the competition advancing into the next round”.