Chile moves to semifinals at U19 Boys’ Cup

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, April 27, 2019 – Chile advanced to a semifinal match against powerhouse Cuba at the U19 Boys’ Pan American Volleyball Cup after defeating Guatemala in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-15) in the first quarterfinal encounter on Saturday at Ricardo Arias Pavilion in Santo Domingo.

The South American side, vice champions of the last edition in 2017 found a bumpy road in the first set against a tough Guatemalan side. However, they took control of the match the rest of the way.

Vicente Ibarra once again was the best scorer for the Chilean squad with 18 points, including three blocks, while Antar Derpich contributed three blocks and three aces among his 14 points. Manfred Borgstedt chipped in with 8 points, all via attacks.

Rodrigo Carrillo had 10 points for Guatemala and David Ismalej added 8 in the loss.

Ivan Villarreal, coach of Chile: “The positive point is that we are in the semifinals. The team was coming from losing a quota of consecutive sets and we faced Guatemala which is a step lower than Puerto Rico.”

Reider Lucas, coach of Guatemala: "We had a first set in which we competed well but we could not close it. That result affected the mood of the boys the rest of the game."