Chile tops Honduras at U18 Pan American Cup

DURANGO, Mexico, May 23, 2019.- Chile beat Honduras 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-14) in pool A at the fifth U18 Girls’ Pan American Cup at Auditorio del Pueblo of Durango, Mexico

Chile with 1-2 record finished third in pool A and moved into the quarterfinals the event that grants two berths to the FIVB World Championship, having to face the loser between Cuba and Puerto Rico in pool B. Honduras with 0-3 record will play for positions 5-8.

Chile had no setbacks in controlling Honduras with powerful serves, but still committing basic errors that put them a bit unstable during the second set.

The South Americans scored with a huge 11-4 margin in serves, 27-19 in attacks and 7-5 advantage in the blocking category.  Chile limited its errors to 17 and benefited from Honduras’ 30 errors.

Chilean Gabriela Badilla scored a match-high of 12 points including 9 kills and one block, followed by Colomba Gonzalez and Elisa Sandrock with 8 and 7 points respectively. Rocío Duron scored 9 points for Honduras and Natalia Reyes along with Dazly Duran added 6 points apiece.

“Our serves were a key element today” said Chilean captain María Jesús Muñóz. “We won the spot in quarters with our consistent serving, added to the fact that Honduras committed a lot of errors; our defense was also crucial in the win. We’ve seen our progress, but we must concentrate more, motivate us and play with heart”.

Argentinean Eduardo Guillaume, Chile’s head coach said “this victory gives us some oxygen but we still must improve. For me, technically speaking, we were a bit better, a bit better in attacks too, also more confident in serves and receiving, which helped to be calm. Today we scored 10 or 12 points on serves, which we haven’t done during the tournament, and in reception we received two or three. We have to wait Cuba against Puerto Rico, it will be difficult”.

Head coach  Catarine Leiva of Honduras expressed she expected more from her team “I believe we could have done it better, it’s the cost of our inexperience. I wish that every one of my players would perform well and not ones today and others tomorrow”.