Peru score come-from-behind victory

Lima, Peru, September 6, 2012 – Hosts Peru overcame Cuba in four sets (15-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-22) and will play Brazil in the semifinals of the U-23 Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup at Miguel Grau Coliseum of El Callao in Lima.

Angela Leyva was the leading scorer in the victory with 16 points, followed by Karla Ortiz and Raffaella Camet with 12 and 10 points respectively. Clarivet Yllescas and Ginna Lopez each added 9 tallies.

Yoana Palacio led Cuba with 16 points while Alena Rojas and Yaremi Mendaro each registered 15.

Cuba led in the blocking category 13-4 but Peru bested their opponents 11-4 in aces with Ortiz recording a match-high 5. Peru benefited 29 Cuba’s errors in the match to their own 20.

“I think we are growing step by step with the competition after only seven training sessions before the event,” Peru’s Brazilian coach Jose Dos Santos stated. “The basic fundaments of volleyball serve, blocking and defense have helped a lot in the victories. Even out attack was a good contributor.”

“It was a copy of our previous matches with a first set very strong and defined and then lack of consistency and stability,” Cuba’s Juan Carlos Gala commented. “Also we failed a lot with our receptions.”

“It was a pretty match as Cuba is always a good rival,” Peru’s Alexandra Muñoz. “We started too relaxed but we were able to recover and overcome the deficit with our services which was our original plan.”

Cuba’s Alena Rojas said: “It was not a good game for us today as we had too many deficiencies in our reception and Peru took advantage of it.”