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MEXICO CITY, Mexico, May 23, 2016. - Argentina won Pool C over
Mexico 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 26-28, 25-22) in the closing match of
the preliminary round at the XI Men’s Pan American Cup held at
Olympic Gymnasium Juan de la Barrera in Mexico City.
It was an exciting win for Argentina’s young players in age but
with a vast experience playing together and U-21 FIVB world
silver medalists. Argentina recovered from a seven point deficit
in set four turning the score around disappointing the home
team.
With the victory, Argentina won Pool C and earned a hall pass
into the semifinals. Argentina held a huge 60-48 advantage in
kills over Mexico and in aces 4-2. Both scored 10 points on
blocking. Argentina had 29 unforced errors and Mexico 27.
Opposite Bruno Lima of Argentina topped all scorers with 23
points, 19 on kills, 3 blocks and 1 ace. Also contributing with
the win were Nicolas Lazo (14), Jan Martinez (12) and Fabian
Flores (10). Mexican outside hitter Jorge Barajas led his team
with 17 points, 15 on kills and 2 blocks, and Tomas Aguilera
added 10 points, 8 on kills and 2 blocks.
Captain Matias Sanchez of Argentina said “all the teams here
came to win the tournament and thinking about that we were able
to keep good energy in the last set; we had a good strike in
serves that helped us to score. We were able to overcome
Mexico’s regularity in the first two sets, but their serves made
things difficult”.
Coach Camilo Soto said “we celebrated big because we faced
difficult opponents and we knew today’s match was going to be
very hard. Mexico’s serves are aggressive as well as their
kills; we were able to control one of their weapons with good
receiving in the first two sets. Matias setting is difficult to
read and it complicates our rivals. This is a talented team in
their age-group and now they are facing a new challenge in the
senior category, today they showed what they’re capable of”.
Mexican Pedro Rangel indicated “we didn’t play at our level and
our serves failed. We started gaining confidence but still we
committed mistakes. The group had a good attitude but our errors
continued. We are motivated and we must learn from today’s loss.
Argentina is very talented”.
Coach Jorge Azair said that Argentina makes little mistakes
“they are very skillful and we had a weak rotation. We will
study today’s video to face Dominican Republic, focused on
reaching the semifinals”. |
