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HAVANA, Cuba, March 21, 2015 – Argentina dominated Cuba 25-15,
25-13, 18-25 and 25-22 in semifinals and will meet Dominican
Republic this Sunday for the gold medal of the III Girls’ U18
Pan American Cup at the Coliseum of the Sports City.
“We are very happy as these girls, who had never reached a
continental final, have made a great effort to make Argentina
try to repeat the success attained by that team in 2011 which
was champion of the very first edition held in Tijuana”, stated,
touched, the coach, Mauro Silvestre.
Volleyball in Argentina is growing and I confess that Cuba has
always been a double reference for us. We have copied much of
the academy from the Island, above all their attack and game. So
we are so happy for having won over them as we had to scout them
much to be able to counteract their physical power, spikes, and
blocks”, assured.
In the triumph, the top scorers were the South Americans: Arahí
Tosi (14) and Brenda Churin (12). On the host team, Diaris Pérez
(11) and the captain Aidachi Aguero (10) stood out.
Precisely, Aidachi congratulated the Argentineans as they knew
to get the most of the passive attitude with which the Cuban
team entered the court. ”When we reacted and wanted to smash at
the end it was not enough to stop them.”
The South American captain, Azul Benítez, excited, said that “we
knew we had to play with everything we had to break a court
where we had the spectators against us. However we are
accustomed to our team playing with impetus and attitude in each
match.”
Tomás Fernández, Cuban coach, indicated that “the Argentineans
follow a manual and play together in the Metropolitan League.
They have played several games and have an unbelievable ball
control which made my girls on nerves in the reception and our
main strength is through the centre of the net. Moreover, the
block did not work out and made me improvise. They did not let
us play because of their good service and our attack was not
precise in addition to the anxiety for the victory. Now it will
be very hard to meet Puerto Rico again for the bronze. We
defeated them, but that team has grown up.”
FINAL COMPETITION SCHEDULE:
5TH place match: (14:00, local time) Mexico vs. Peru
Bronze match: (16:00, local time) Puerto Rico vs. Cuba
Gold match: (18:00, local time) Dominican Republic vs. Argentina
Medallists in previous Cups:
2011 (Tijuana): Argentina – Mexico – Dominican Republic
2013 (Guatemala): Brasil – Puerto Rico – Dominican Republic |
