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CALI,
Colombia, December 3, 2021. - Host Colombia
defeated Mexico in a five set thriller 3-2
(25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 15-7) to top pool A
and will face Peru at the women’s volleyball
tournament of the I Junior Pan American Games
Cali-Valle 2021.
Colombia
finished pool-play with 3-0 undefeated record
while Mexico’s loss benefited Argentina for
second place.
In semifinals,
Colombia will play against Peru that finished
second in pool B. The other semifinal features
Argentina against top B finisher, Brazil.
Colombia's
strength in blocking stopped Mexico with a huge
15-6 advantage and finishing with a slim 5-4
margin in serves; Mexico led 63-52 in attacks.
Colombia committed 26 errors and Mexico handed
out 37 points.
Middle blocker
Darlevis Mosquera and outside hitter Ana Karina
Olaya led Colombia with 18 points each; Darlevis
led in blocking with 8 points. Outside hitter
Laura Grajales and middle blocker Valerin
Carabali also contributed in Colombia’s victory
with 16 and 12 points respectively.
Mexican
captain Grecia Castro scored a match-high of 25
points; followed by opposite hitter Marian
Ovalle with 17 points and middle blocker Renata
López added 12 points.
Valerin
Carabali, captain of Colombia:
“We
started pool-play with a win in three sets and
then things became hard, both wins were in five
complicated sets. Today we expected a long
match, but I believe we could have finished
earlier, but we committed too many errors. We
were really focused in the end, we did our job
and we were able to stop Mexico. The team has
been united and that has helped us to recover
from critical moments”.
Eduardo
Niño, head coach of Colombia:
“Since we were
preparing we knew it was going to be long, we
made a change from yesterday’s performance and
for moments we lost the game in the middle; when
we rotated to what we needed it all worked out”.
Luis León,
head coach of Mexico:
“Another
pool-match in five sets, Colombia is a really
good team; they took advantage of their physical
attributes. The entire match was about attitude,
state of mind, rather than technical or tactics.
We are left out of the battle for medals but we
reached our goal of qualifying to the Pan
American Games in 2023”. |
