Puerto Rico Advances to NORCECA Semifinals with Win Over
Honduras
Colorado Springs, USA, August 20, 2012 - Puerto Rico recovered
from its first loss at the NORCECA Men’s Junior Continental
Championship with a 25-16, 25-16, 25-11 victory over Honduras
Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinal round at the U.S. Olympic
Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Puerto Rico advances to the semifinals, while Honduras falls
into the classification 5-8 round starting on Friday.
Puerto Rico was led by its captain Cristian Rivera, who totaled
11 points with four blocks in two sets of action. Giovanni
Llinas charted nine points in the victory.
Honduras was paced by Frank Alley’s 10 points and teammate Jose
Vasquez contributed six points.
Puerto Rico won the battle at the net with a 10-4 margin and
44-23 kill advantage. In addition, they out-served Honduras with
a 6-0 advantage.
“I am really happy with the result today and look forward to
our next match,” Puerto Rico captain Cristian Rivera said. “We
played a steady match today. Honduras showed some good moments
in the match and potential for the future.”
“Congratulations to Honduras for a good match today,” Puerto
Rico head coach Ramon Hernandez said. “They have had a great
tournament, and unfortunately they lost a key component to the
team a couple days ago due to injury. Puerto Rico played
consistent throughout the match, and now we will prepare for the
semifinals knowing it will be a tough match regardless who we
play. Our want to continue to be get better with each match to
achieve our goal.”
“I want to congratulate Puerto Rico for its pass into the
semifinals,” Honduras head coach Rony Martinez said. “Our team
continues to have a lack of attitude. We knew it would be a
tough match against Puerto Rico. I think we could have done
better.”
“Congratulations to Puerto Rico for today victory,” Honduras
captain Ricardo Vasquez said. “We had a little lack of attitude
today. We had a few good moments, but we could not play
consistent. We tried our best, and now we are looking forward to
our next match.” |