Chile improves 2-0 defeating USA at Men’s Pan Am Cup

COLIMA, Mexico, June 17, 2019. - Chile improved 2-0 defeating United States 3-1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-19) on day two at the fourteenth edition of the Men’s Pan American Cup being held at the Multifunctional Auditorium of Colima, Mexico.

Chile and United States engaged in a strong battle with long rallies, won by the South Americans with a faster and more tactical performance, working around the US blockers.  Chile stands with 2-0 and the United States drops to 1-1 in pool C.

Despite leading 51-45 in attacks, the US lost to Chile’s huge 12-4 margin in blocks. Both teams finished with 6 points on aces; Chile committed fewer errors (27-31).

Chilean Vicente Parraguirre capitalized on 25 points as the game’s leading scorer, with 21 kills and 3 blocks. Also contributing in Chile’s winning campaign, outside hitter Dusan Bonacic with 13 points and middle blocker Simon Guerra with 10 points. Outside hitter Colton Cowell led United States with 17 points on 16 kills and one ace; opposite James Shaw added 14 points all on kills.

Chile (2-0) finishes pool-play facing Guatemala (0-2) and United States (1-1) plays Dominican Republic (1-1).

Vicente Parraguirre, leading scorer of the match: “We are very happy, we’ve been working very hard for a long time, expecting a result like this one. We began with everything we have, showing our high level and they underestimated us, and they didn’t know what happened after we won the first set”.

Colton Cowell, USA top scorer: “We took certain steps in the right direction but there are definitely areas that we need to work on. Chile did a very good job playing in a different rhythm; they were changing off the tempo in the offense, it was very fast and difficult for us to be set and get confidence in our blocking. For tomorrow we’ll have more energy, passion and put more smiles on or faces, working hard”.

Daniel Nejamkin, coachChile: “It was an excellent game for Chile, only in the best of cases we would have thought of winning today; Chile made history. We played well in blocking and attacking as well. Vicente Parraguirre was outstanding, a player that yesterday had a bad performance, and today he had the chance for a re-match”.

Milan Zarkovic, coach United States: “We lacked precision, Chile was more precise. We tried different formations but we weren’t able to respond. We gave away a lot of points in transitions; we’ll turn the page because tomorrow is a very important match”.