Colombia wins South American duel with Argentina

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 8, 2018 – Colombia held off a reaction of Argentina, their South American rival, to claim an emotional five-set victory in Pool C of the Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup on Sunday.

Amanda Coneo had 20 points to lead four Colombian players with double digits in the scores in the 3-2 (25-16, 25-16, 22-25, 18-25, 17-15) victory. Dayana Segovia contributed 18 points in the win while Margarita Martinez and Valerin Carabalí added 14 and 11 respectively.

Elina Rodriguez finished with 16 points for the defeated side while Lucia Fresco and Yamila Nizetich added 15 apiece. Constanza Lazcano and Florencia Busquets each had 12 in the loss.

Maria Marín, captain of Colombia: We played very well for the first two sets but then lost the concentration. In the fifth set we tried to reduce the mistakes and improved our blocking.”

Yamila Nizetich, captain of Argentina: It was a great match and Argentina went from less to more. At the beginning we did not serve well but step by step we improved our level. We are just starting and we need to reduce errors and serve better.”

Antonio Rizola, coach of Colombia: We knew it was going to be a tough match. Argentina is ahead of us but we are growing and it is not easy to learn how to win. You learn to win playing not training.

Guillermo Orduna, coach of Argentina: We were caught off guard in the first two sets. Then we recovered and adjusted but in the tie-breaker we made more mistakes.