Argentina reach Semifinals beating Canada  

HERMOSILLO, Mexico, July 21, 2023.- Argentina beat Canada 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-18) to reach the semifinals at the U23 Women’s Pan American Cup being held at Sonora Arena in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Argentina will most likely face reigning champions Dominican Republic in semifinals, Peru and Costa Rica are yet to play in the other quarterfinal; while Canada will play classification matches for positions 5 to 8 starting with Honduras.

Argentina was dominant in the first set jumping to a 12-5 lead, Canada battled hard scoring six points in a row, but Argentina kept the lead. In the second set Argentina recovered from a three-point deficit (9-12) to an even 13 to finish with a comfortable lead. Argentina led from an even 14 point forward in the third and final set.

Argentina held a 38 to 28 advantage in kills, producing 9 points from blocks against 4 and a slight 4-3 margin in points from serves. Argentina committed 20 unforced errors and Canada 24.

Two players of Argentina scored double figures, outside hitter Milena Margaria with 11 attacking points and middle blocker Avril García adding 10 points, including a match-high of 5 blocks.

Lucy Burowski and Raya Surinx scored 9 and 8 points respectively for Canada.

Milena Margari, top scorer of Argentina: “What’s important is we came out of rough spots as a team, with a cold head and moved forward without thinking about the result or the opponent. Tomorrow’s semifinal will be tough, and it will be great to get experience, more time to play and we will enjoy it. Hopefully we can win a medal in the tournament”.

Lucy Burowski, captain of Canada: “We start off a bit slow in every set and we start getting momentum but lose a set and then just can’t get it back. I think we can get more aggressive in  our attack”.