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LA PAZ, Baja California Sur, June
11, 2022.-
Argentina beat Mexico 3-1 (26-24,
27-25, 28-30, 25-7) in Saturday's semifinals to
reach the Women’s U21 Pan American Cup final
match at La Paz Arena in Baja California Sur.
Argentina was challenged by a
resistant home team up to the third set, when
Mexico needed five-set points to keep their
hopes alive. Argentina entirely dominated Mexico
in the fourth set, leaving no doubt in their
stunning finish.
Argentina faces the United States
for the gold, they met earlier in pool-play play
with the U.S. winning 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 22-25,
27-25) to advance directly into semifinals to
beat Chile. This will also be a rematch of the
2017 gold medal match won by the Americans.
Argentina also fell in 2015 to Dominican
Republic.
On the other hand, Mexico and
Chile will battle for the bronze medal. This is
the second occasion they meet for third place;
Chile took the bronze in 2015. Mexico won the
event in 2013 to Dominican Republic.
Argentina led 61-54 in attacks
and prevailed by a huge margin in blocks (16-4)
and aces (11-4); Mexico was the one with fewer
errors (18-24).
Outside hitter Milena Margaria of
Argentina scored a match-high of 20 points on 17
kills and three blocks. Middle blocker Avril
Garcia and outside hitter Keila Llanos joined
the party of points with 19 each; Garcia scoring
the most blocks with a total of 7 points.
Outside hitter and team captain
Aime Topete led Mexico with 16 points on 15
kills and one ace, followed by opposite hitter
Katherine Ramirez with 14 points on 13 kills and
one block. Outside hitter Alexandra Goris also
contributed with 10 points.
Marcelo Silva, Head Coach of
Argentina:
“The first three sets were
tremendous, it was very close, Mexico defended a
lot, maybe they were tired in the last set, I
never thought we could have won the fourth set
with such a large margin. Now we need our girls
to recover and study the United States to decide
our game plan”.
Luis León, Head Coach of Mexico:
“The first three sets could have
gone to either one, they were very close. I
believe the difference was Argentina’s level of
play in the tournament, with more matches, with
rhythm together (two matches more than us).
Tomorrow we are going out to win third place”. |
