Colombia Reaches Semifinals as Top Finisher in Pool A

LEÓN, Mexico, August 22, 2024.- Colombia reached to the semifinals of the Women’s Pan American Cup as first place in Pool A after defeating Mexico 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21) on Thursday at the Domo de La Feria in León, Guanajuato.

Mexico finished third place with a 3-2 record in Pool A and will face Argentina in the quarterfinals on Friday (8:00 p.m.). The Dominican Republic (4-1), second place in the pool, will play a Caribbean derby against Puerto Rico in the other quarterfinal match (5:00 p.m.), both matches in León.

Colombia outperformed Mexico in attacks (64-54) and serves (3-2). Mexico dominated the blocking with a huge 12-5 margin, but conceding 34 points on errors compared to 14 by Colombia.

Ana Karina Olaya led Colombia with 18 points. Dayana Segovia contributed 13 points. Laura Grajales and Valerin Carabali also helped secure the victory with 11 points each. Carabali was the top scorer in blocks with 9 points.

Mexico's Grecia Castro all scorers with 24 points. Karina Flores added 21 points, along with Uxue Guereca who finished with 14. Team captain Jocelyn Urías added 11 points.

Jocelyn Urías denied Colombia a set point in the first set, and then a spike from Karen Rivera tied the score at 24; Colombia took the set (26-24) after two opponent errors. Colombia recovered from a three-point deficit (8-11) to win the second set, scoring 10 points from Mexican errors, with Ana Karina Olaya leading in scoring. In the third set, Mexico stayed close and managed to even the score at 22 points; two powerful attacks by Grecia Castro extended the match. The fourth set was equally contested, with the score tied at 20 points before Colombia pulled ahead, closing the match with a serve from Dayana Segovia.

Hernan Osorio, Head Coach of Colombia: “Mexico is a team that plays an aggressive game with speed and explosive actions, and at this stage of the competition, fatigue, the accumulation of training and matches take a toll. It was a big challenge, especially since Mexico prepared well for this match at home. It was a hand-to-hand and point-to-point game. Colombia managed to stay calm, handle the timing well, and the collective response was very positive”.

Nicola Negro, Head Coach of Mexico: “The first three sets were decided by details. We managed to win the third set. We are not happy with the loss, but honestly, today was our best match; we attacked and blocked better, technically it was our best performance. Now we need to focus on tomorrow, as we have a very tough quarterfinal match ahead of us”.