Chile waits for their semifinal berth after defeating Mexico

LIMA, Peru, August 2, 2019. - Chile defeated Mexico 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20) and waits to confirm their semifinal berth at the eighteenth Lima 2019 Pan American Games.

Chile went straight to the stands to celebrate with their families and supporters their victory and putting one foot into semifinals. Chile must wait for the result between United States and Brazil that could register a triple tie; Chile stands with 2-1 win-loss record, Brazil with 2-0 and United States with 1-1.

Pool B winner will face Cuba in semifinals and second place goes against Argentina. Third place will battle for fifth place against Puerto Rico and Mexico (4^th place) will meet Peru for seventh place.

Chile outblocked Mexico 11-8 and held a 7-1 margin in aces; Mexico did better in attacks with 56-47 advantage. Chile scored 30 points on Mexico’s errors against 23.

Opposite player Tomas Parraguirre carried Chile into beating Mexico with 21 points, followed by his brother Vicente with 18 points and captain Dusan Bonacic contributed with 12 points. Outside hitter Jorge Barajas led Mexico with 18 points; Gonzalo Ruiz added 14 points and Ridl Garay came off the bench to score 12 points.

Comments:

Tomás Parraguirre, top scorer of Chile: “We have mixed emotions, we were expecting a difficult match, and Mexico is always a tough opponent for us. We really wanted to win and after overcoming our nerves in the first set, we were able to loosen up”.

Daniel Mejamkin, Head coach of Chile: “We are overjoyed, not even in our most ambitious scenarios we expected to win two matches. After a first nerve wrecking first set, in the end we played well and what’s most important is our victory”.

Nestor Orellana, opposite player of Mexico: “We are disappointed with the result, we were expecting a little more since the beginning of the tournament, I think we weren’t able to adapt to the conditions of this court. Congratulations to Chile for a job well done”.