Puerto Rico Downs Mexico at NORCECA Championship‏

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Hector Soto scored 15 points for Puerto Rico and Victor Rivera added 13 as the Puerto Rican Men’s National Volleyball Team overcame a young and undermanned Mexican team 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-20) on Monday at the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championship at the Anaheim Convention Center Hilton.

Puerto Rico improves to 2-0 in Pool A. It will face the United States (1-0) at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Mexico falls to 0-2 and will play Barbados (0-1) at 5:30 p.m.

Puerto Rican Coach Carlos Cardona said he congratulated his team following the match and said the team had made the adjustments they had talked about after Sunday’s match against Barbados.

Puerto Rico converted 70 percent of its kill attempts into points as compared to 50 percent for Mexico.

Soto, who was an All-American at IPFW, scored on 12 kills and three aces. Rivera, who was an All-American at Lewis University in Illinois, scored on 13 kills.

Mexico, who has only 10 players on its roster due to visa problems, was led by Mario Becerra with eight points on eight kills.

Mexico Head Coach Jorge Azair did not think his team had played as well as it had against the United States on Sunday and was particularly disappointed in the serve reception. Mexico had 26 “excellent” receptions out of 52 attempts. Puerto Rico had six aces.

After taking a 5-2 lead in the first set, Puerto Rico held an 8-6 advantage at the first technical timeout. From there it went on an 8-3 run and led 16-9 at the second timeout before cruising to the 25-15 victory.

Mexico was trailing 7-10 in the second set when Puerto Rico used a 4-1 run to increase its lead to six points. Mexico never recovered.

The score was tied 12-12 in the third set, but Puerto Rico’s Victor Bird gave his team the lead with a kill and sparked a 4-1 run. Mexico kept things close but never caught up again and fell 25-20,

The top two finishers at the NORCECA Continental Championship will qualify for the 2007 FIVB World Cup (Nov. 18-Dec. 2) in Japan. The top three finishers at the World Cup qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.